SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State women’s soccer travels to Albuquerque, New Mexico, this week, for its final match of the regular season. The Aztecs are slated to battle the New Mexico Lobos at 7:30 p.m. MT/6:30 p.m. PT on Thursday night at the UNM Soccer Complex. The match will be streamed on the Mountain West Network.
San Diego State (7-7-4, 5-2-3 Mountain West) had a tie and a win last week. After a Logan Nidy goal with an assist from Trinity Coker, SDSU trailed 3-1 at Wyoming with just 12 minutes remaining in the match. Coker scored on a free kick in the 79th minute to cut the deficit to one. In the 87th minute, Coker found Denise Castro, who scored on a header to salvage a tie. Coker was named to the Top Drawer Soccer National Team of the Week for her efforts. In Sunday’s match, the Aztec defense held the first-place Colorado State Rams scoreless while Dori Savage scored in the 87th minute with assists from Castro and Emma Gaines-Ramos to hand CSU their first loss of conference play and clinch a tournament berth for San Diego State. Castro leads the Aztecs with nine goals and 20 points and Gaines-Ramos paces the roster with six assists. Castro is in second in the Mountain West in goals and goals per game (0.50) and third in points. As a team, the Aztecs rank in the top three in the conference in goals, assists, points, goals per game, assists per game and saves. Madueno has played the entire season in goal for SDSU, totaling 87 saves (most in the MW), equivalent to 4.83 per game (second most in the Mountain West), with six shutouts. Madueno holds the school records for saves and shutouts and among active DI players, she ranks fourth in saves, is tied for 15th in shutouts and is fourth in goalkeeper minutes.
New Mexico (7-5-5, 3-4-3 MW) has been inconsistent in conference play, bouncing between wins, losses and ties. The Lobos are battling with Nevada, Wyoming and Colorado College for the final spot in the Mountain West tournament. UNM is in the driver’s seat and will make the tournament with a win on Thursday. New Mexico and SDSU both beat Nevada and Fresno State, tied Colorado College and Wyoming and were bested by Utah State and Boise State. While the Lobos fell to UNLV and Colorado State, the Aztecs beat the Rebels and Rams. UNM beat Air Force, who SDSU tied, and the Aztecs defeated San Jose State, who played the Lobos to a draw. San Diego State and New Mexico have played 33 times, with 14 Aztec victories and eight ties. SDSU leads 12-10-7 in the Mountain West era and 8-6-3 in the Mike Friesen era. The Aztecs are .500, 3-3-2, when playing in Albuquerque under Coach Friesen.
San Diego State will begin the Mountain West Championship in the Quarterfinal round with a match against UNLV at 7 p.m. on Sunday night on the SDSU Sports Deck. With a win, the Aztecs would play at the same time on Wednesday, November 6, before the championship match at 6 p.m. on Saturday, November 9. The entire tournament will be broadcast on the Mountain West Network.