SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State women’s soccer team concludes its two-week long road trip this week with matches at Colorado College and Air Force. SDSU will take on the Tigers at 6 p.m. MT/5 p.m. PT on Thursday at Stewart Field in Colorado Springs, Colorado, before facing the Falcons at 1 p.m. MT/noon PT on Sunday at Cadet Soccer Stadium in USAF Academy, Colorado. Both matches will be streamed on the Mountain West Network.
After beginning Mountain West play with shutout wins over Nevada (5-0) and UNLV (2-0), San Diego State (4-7-1, 2-2-0 Mountain West) played on the road twice last week. The Aztecs dropped both matches, first falling 5-1 at No. 12 Utah State with an Emma Gaines-Ramos goal on a penalty kick in the 89th minute and a season-high ten saves by Alexa Madueno. On Sunday, SDSU was unable to score in a 2-0 defeat at Boise State. Denise Castro leads the Aztecs with six goals and 13 points and Carlin Blake and Gaines-Ramos pace the roster with four assists. Castro is tied for second in the Mountain West in goals and third in goals per game while Blake and Gaines-Ramos are tied for second in assists and Gaines-Ramos is second in assists per game. 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 63 saves (most in the MW), equivalent to 5.25 per game (also the most in the Mountain West), with a trio of shutouts. San Diego State head coach Mike Friesen’s 190 wins are tied for the most by a coach in Mountain West history with former member Brigham Young’s Jennifer Rockwood.
Colorado College (5-7-1, 1-3-0 MW) opened the conference season with a 2-1 win vs. Wyoming but have dropped all their matches since then, falling 1-0 to Colorado State, 2-1 at UNLV and 5-0 at Nevada. In its matches against the common opponents, SDSU defeated the Rebels 2-0 and the Wolf Pack 5-0 in the first week of conference play. San Diego State and Colorado College have played 14 times with seven Aztec victories and four ties. SDSU is 6-2-3 vs. the Tigers in the Mike Friesen era and 2-2-1 on the road. The Aztecs earned a 3-1 win when the teams met last season in San Diego.
Air Force (5-4-2, 1-2-1 MW) began conference play with a 4-0 loss at Colorado State before tying Wyoming. Last week, the Falcons defeated Nevada 1-0 but fell 3-1 to UNLV. For comparison, SDSU beat Nevada 5-0 and UNLV 2-0. Prior to Sunday’s match, Air Force will battle the New Mexico Lobos on Thursday. The Aztecs and Falcons have met on 26 occasions with 24 Aztec wins and a tie. SDSU has not lost to Air Force since 2001 and has 20 wins vs. the Falcons since the only time San Diego State fell to Air Force. The tie occurred in 2006. The Aztecs are 16-0 against the Falcons in the Mike Friesen era including last year’s 1-0 victory and 11-1 when playing in USAF Academy, Colorado.
San Diego State returns home next week for a pair of matches on the SDSU Sports Deck against San Jose State at 7 p.m. on Thursday, October 17, and vs. Fresno State at noon on Sunday, October 20. Those matches are doubleheaders with SDSU’s men’s soccer team with the men playing first on the 17th and the women playing first on the 20th. Admission is free to both matches and Sunday’s battle with the Bulldogs will be streamed on the Mountain West Network.