SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State women’s soccer team wraps up its non-conference slate this weekend when it welcomes the Utah Valley Wolverines to the SDSU Sports Deck at noon on Sunday. Attendance is free and the match will be streamed on the Mountain West Network.
San Diego State (2-4-1) had a pair of home matches last week, facing unranked opponents for the first time since the opening week of the season. After a 1-0 defeat at the hands of UC San Diego on Thursday, SDSU bounced back against Eastern Washington on Sunday with a 4-2 victory to get back in the win column. Denise Castro had a brace (scored two goals) and had an assist in the match for a total of five points, the most by an Aztec this season. In the match, Emma Gaines-Ramos also scored as Alexyz Nakamoto had her first career goal while Carlin Blake tallied a pair of assists. Gaines-Ramos and Castro lead the Aztecs with three goals apiece while Castro sits atop the team leaderboard with seven goals and Blake paces the roster with four assists (tied for second most in the Mountain West). Alexa Madueno has played the entire season in goal for SDSU, totaling 27 saves (third in the MW) with a shutout.
Utah Valley (5-4-1) followed up a 3-0 win at Gonzaga last Sunday with a 5-0 shutout victory against Weber State on Thursday. This is the first week this season that the Wolverines are not receiving votes in the United Soccer Coaches poll after they began the year with a 2-0 win against No. 3 Brigham Young on August 7. Utah Valley also has road wins over Michigan and Utah. Last season, UVU went 10-4-5 with a win at No. 19 Southern California but fell to Grand Canyon in the opening round of the WAC tournament. In the only time they have faced San Diego State, the Wolverines played on the Sports Deck on August 21, 2015, with SDSU dominant in a 6-0 Aztec victory.
The Aztecs begin conference play next week with home matches on the SDSU Sports Deck against Nevada on the evening of Thursday, September 26, and UNLV on Sunday, September 29. Both are free to attend and will be broadcast on the Mountain West Network.