SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State women’s soccer team played at home for the final time in the 2024 regular season on Sunday. The team honored its 11 seniors prior to its match against Colorado State. In the match, the Aztec defense held the Rams scoreless while Dori Savage scored in the 87th minute to give SDSU a 1-0 victory and clinch a berth in the Mountain West Championship tournament.
San Diego State (7-7-4, 5-2-3 Mountain West) appeared to have a goal to start the match but Colorado State (11-4-3, 7-1-2 MW) keeper Libby Brooker made a diving save on Kali Trevithick’s shot just 15 seconds after kickoff. Alexa Madueno responded with a save of her own in the 13th minute. The Aztecs controlled possession for much of the first half, keeping the ball near CSU’s goal. Denise Castro forced another save at the 19-minute mark. Grace Goins had a shot on goal saved by a Ram position player two minutes later. Trevithick and Castro each put another shot on goal in the 24th and 27th minutes, respectively. The teams traded saves to close out the first half with Madueno saving shots in the 38th and 42nd minutes while Brooker saved another shot by Trevithick in the 35th minute and one by Olivia Sekimoto in the 39th minute.
In the second half, both offenses and goalkeepers picked up where they left off. Madueno earned her fourth save in the 56th minute. After Emma Gaines-Ramos forced another Brooker save three minutes later, Madueno stopped a Liv Stutzman shot in the 63rd minute. The referees had to pull out a card for the first time at the 65-minute mark, when the Rams’ Izzy Wildermuth was given a yellow card. In the 67th minute, Madueno stopped a shot on goal by Kacie Laurie, but CSU’s Kaja Dionne grabbed the rebound and put another shot on goal. Madueno was able to save that shot as well to preserve her shutout. Two minutes later, SDSU’s Emma Fuller was given a yellow card.
The defenses kept both teams from getting another shot on goal until the 86th minute, when Madueno made one more save on a shot by Mia Casey to the top right corner of the goal. It took a team effort to finally break the scoreless tie. Gaines-Ramos dribbled down the left sideline and passed into the box to Castro, who made a smooth pass by a defender to Savage. She extended her left leg and drove the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal past the arms of a diving Brooker to get SDSU on the board. The Aztec defense held the Rams to one more shot, which missed high, to preserve the 1-0 win and hand the Rams their first loss of conference play.
San Diego State tallied more shots (24-16), shots on goal (9-8), saves (8-7) and corner kicks (8-4) while Colorado State had more fouls (14-11).
The Aztecs finished their home conference regular season schedule with a perfect 5-0-0 record and an astonishing 14-1 goal differential. SDSU was perfect (6-0-0) on the SDSU Sports Deck in conference last season as well. San Diego State’s last time doing anything but winning at home against Mountain West opposition was a 1-0 defeat at the hands of UNLV on October 16, 2022.
Madueno’s eight saves bumped her career total to 395. Her sixth shutout of the season is one short of her career-high from 2022, which is tied for the tenth most in a season in program history. She extended her school record career tally to 28.
Savage’s goal today was her second of the season. Both came in the last four minutes of the match and were critical for the Aztecs. Her other score secured a 2-2 tie at Air Force on October 13. Savage was clutch last season as well, when she scored in the 90th minute to tie Pepperdine. In addition, she scored both goals in a 2-0 win at Eastern Washington and a 2-1 win over UTEP in 2023.
San Diego State wraps up its regular season on Thursday at New Mexico at 7:30 p.m. MT/6:30 p.m. PT. It will be broadcast on the Mountain West Network. The Aztecs will be back on the SDSU Sports Deck next Sunday for their Mountain West Championship Quarterfinal match at 7 p.m. PT. The entire tournament will be broadcast on the Mountain West Network.