LAS VEGAS – San Diego State women's soccer won their fifth straight match on Thursday evening, 2-0 over UNLV in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Peter Johann soccer field. Denise Castro and Kali Trevithick provided the goals to earn the Aztecs the win.
The Aztecs (11-2-2, 5-0-1 MW) struck early against the Rebels (6-4-5, 2-3-2 MW). In just the fifth minute Alexys Ocampo picked up the ball down the right side of the UNLV defense. She dribbled past one defender and into the box before laying the ball off across the box. The ball eventually found Castro who, after the ball took a bounce off a UNLV defender, slotted the ball into the back of the net to give SDSU a 1-0 lead.
Neither team would trouble the opposing keeper for the majority of the first half after that. However, with just two minutes to go in the half, Alexa Madueno in net for the Aztecs made her first save of the night as she paired a shot wide of the post to ensure the Aztecs 1-0 halftime lead.
UNLV had a few good chances to open the second half. The Rebels had a nice move materialize down the left side in the opening few minutes of the half, but the Aztecs defense remained strong and were able to clear the cross away and maintain the clean sheet. A few minutes later in the 55th minute the Rebels had another attack work its way into the SDSU penalty area, but Madueno and the backline came up big to deny the opportunity. Four minutes later in the 59th minute Ocampo put one into the back of the net herself, but an Aztec was judged to have been offsides in the buildup, so SDSU lead 1-0 with just over a half hour remaining.
In the 70th minute the Aztecs added on in dramatic fashion. Dori Savage picked up the ball inside her own half and took the space offered to her by the UNLV defense. After she was closed down, she gave the ball to Trevithick who took a shot from well outside the box and smashed it into the top left corner of the net to double the Aztecs lead, giving SDSU a 2-0 advantage. The goal was Trevithick's fifth of the season.
After the goal SDSU's defense held UNLV to just one shot in the final 20 minutes and the Aztecs earned a fifth straight win on Thursday.
Up Next: SDSU travels to Reno, Nevada on Sunday to take on Nevada. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. PT.
Game Notes:
- SDSU earned their fifth straight win, and move to 9-0-1 over their last 10 matches. The Aztecs are now one of 10 teams in the country who are undefeated in their last 10 matches. Additionally, San Diego State is tied for the second best record in the nation over that span at 9-0-1 with perennial powers Florida State and Stanford. Only Lamar University has more wins over their last 10 matches (10-0-0).
- San Diego State is 11-2-2 to start the 2023 season. That is the fourth best start in program history behind 1998 (14-1), 2012 (13-1-1), and 2014 (12-2-1). SDSU would go on to advance to the third round of the NCAA tournament in both 1998 and 2012.
- The last time the Aztecs had 11 or more wins in their first 15 matches of a season was 2015 (11-4-0).
- Denise Castro tallied her eighth goal of the season on Thursday. That matches her career high for a single season (also had 8 goals in 2021).
- Castro now has 23 goals for her career, putting her eighth all-time at SDSU.
- With the shutout Alexa Madueno now has 21 career shutouts as an Aztec.