SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State women’s soccer team came into the weekend looking to turn a win into a winning streak, but first it had to get through the Utah Valley Wolverines. In Sunday’s match on the SDSU Sports Deck, the Aztecs scored a pair of goals and Alexa Madueno tallied a season-high nine saves to smash the program record, but the Wolverines came out on top 4-2.
Both offenses were slow to get going with Alexa Madueno tallying saves in the eighth and 20th minutes. The Wolverines’ Faith Webber was able to get one by her in the 11th minute, assisted by Kate Shirts. Just a couple minutes before halftime, Aztec head coach Mike Friesen was assessed a yellow card for dissenting.
In the second half, Madueno had a trio of saves between the 55th and 58th minutes to break Aubree Southwick’s program record of 338 career saves. UVU (6-4-1) tacked on a goal when Courney Cobabe scored on a pass from Ruby Hladek in the 64th minute. Madueno tallied three more saves over the next five minutes to reach a season-high of eight saves.
In the 67th minute, Alexyz Nakamoto forced a save by CJ Graham in the first SDSU (2-5-1) shot on goal of the match. Utah Valley scored again in the 76th (Sarah Oyler) and 78th minutes (Ashley Garcia) with only a Graham save and a yellow card on the Wolverines’ Greta Davis in between.
Carlin Blake scored on a free kick to get the Aztecs on the board in the 79th minute. After Madueno added one more save just past the 85-minute mark, Nakamoto found the back of the net to cut the deficit to two. The Aztecs ran out of time to complete the comeback with 4-2 as the final.
San Diego State finished the match with more saves (9-2) while Utah Valley managed more shots (31-9), shots on goal (13-4), fouls (11-7) and corner kicks (5-3).
Madueno’s nine saves were her most in a match this season and the most by an Aztec since she also had nine saves against Pepperdine on August 24, 2023. Madueno easily passed Aubree Southwick’s total of 338 career saves to make the program record her own with 344 saves and counting.
Nakamoto scored in her second consecutive match in just her seventh total appearance. Nakamoto and Logan Nidy are the only Aztec freshmen to score since the beginning of the 2022 season with each scoring a pair of goals in their first season on The Mesa.
Blake’s first goal of the season, along with her team-leading four assists brings her to a total of six points. Blake is tied with Emma Gaines-Ramos for second on the SDSU roster.
San Diego State begins Mountain West play this coming week with home matches on the SDSU Sports Deck against Nevada on Thursday night and UNLV on Sunday. Admission is free and the matches will be streamed on the Mountain West Network.