SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State women’s soccer team returned to the SDSU Sports Deck on Thursday night for its first match against an unranked opponent since August 18, the opening week of the season. In UC San Diego, SDSU faced a foe that had never defeated it as the Aztecs attempted to get back in the win column. The Tritons scored in the 18th minute and neither team was able to score after that as SDSU came up short 1-0.
The Aztec (1-4-1) offense came out aggressive with freshman Mia Lane, making her first collegiate start, getting a shot on goal just 50 seconds into the game as Triton goalkeeper Bella Barretto picked up her first save of the night in what would be her career shutout. San Diego State keeper Alexa Madueno had a save of her own in the tenth minute to keep the Tritons off the board.
Courtney Hilliard found Raquel Kalpakoff just 17:17 into the match for the lone goal of what would be a defensive first half. The SDSU defense kept UCSD (2-5-1) from another shot on goal the rest of the half while Trinity Coker and Alexyz Nakamoto were each able to force saves by Barretto. Coker was given a yellow card in the final minute of the first half.
San Diego State put three shots on goal in the first ten minutes of the second half with Coker, Nakamoto and Emma Gaines-Ramos each shooting into the bottom half of the goal but Barretto was able to stop all three. SDSU could not manage another shot on goal the rest of the way. Madueno had her second save in the 62nd minute on the other end of the field. After Gaines-Ramos was shown a controversial yellow card in the 66th minute, another yellow card was given to the Aztec bench for dissenting.
Madueno made a leaping save in the 77th minute on a shot by Andrea Guillen. The remainder of the match was quiet apart from UCSD’s Kailey Park picking up a yellow card late in the 81st minute as the Tritons held on for their first ever win over the Aztecs.
San Diego State finished the match with more shots (14-10) and shots on goal (6-4) while UC San Diego managed more saves (6-3), fouls (12-9) and corner kicks (8-2).
Madueno added three saves to her career tally to reach 332. She is now just six saves behind Aubree Southwick’s program record of 338.
Kali Trevithick was scratched from the starting lineup at the last minute with Lane replacing her among the starters. Lane becomes the 14th Aztec and first freshman to start this season. Lane is the 17th player from this season’s roster to start a match for the Aztecs in their career and the first true freshman to start for San Diego State since Lily Boudet started against UTEP on August 20, 2023.
San Diego State will be back at the SDSU Sports Deck at noon each of the next two Sundays to wrap up its nonconference schedule. The Aztecs host Eastern Washington this weekend and Utah Valley next weekend. Admission for both matches is free, and they will be streamed on the Mountain West Network.