SAN DIEGO – On Wednesday night, the San Diego State women’s soccer team will try to advance to its 11th Mountain West Championship match in program history. Fresh off a 3-1 win over UNLV in the First Round of the tournament, the fourth-seeded Aztecs will face the top-seeded Boise State Broncos at 7 p.m. PT on the SDSU Sports Deck. The match will be streamed on the Mountain West Network.
San Diego State (9-7-4, 6-2-3 Mountain West) remains unbeaten since October 6. Following 0-0 and 2-2 draws at Colorado College and Air Force, SDSU returned home to knock off San Jose State 2-1 and Fresno State 4-0. The Aztecs tied 3-3 at Wyoming and took down Colorado State 1-0 before a 4-1 win at New Mexico to wrap up the regular season. SDSU began the Mountain West tournament on Sunday night against the fifth-seeded Rebels of UNLV. Denise Castro scored on a pass from Trinity Coker just 72 seconds into the match (the fastest score by an Aztec in Mountain West Tournament history) and Kali Trevithick scored in the 15th minute to make it 2-0. After a UNLV goal, Trevithick scored again in the 47th minute to cap off a 3-1 victory. On Monday, Castro was named to the All-Mountain West First Team while Trinity Coker, Emma Gaines-Ramos and Trevithick earned spots on the Second Team. Castro leads the team in goals (10) and points (23) while Gaines-Ramos paces the roster in assists (8). Castro had the second most goals and goals per game (0.47) in the conference this season as well as third most points and points per game (1.11) while ranking 46th in the nation in goals and 67th in points. As a team, the Aztecs ranked in the top three in the conference in goals, assists, points, goals per game, assists per game and saves during the regular season. Alexa Madueno has played the entire season in goal for SDSU, totaling 99 saves (96 during the regular season were most in the MW), equivalent to 4.95 per game (5.05 was the 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 third in goalkeeper minutes.
After Sunday’s action, San Diego State is a perfect 6-0-0 with a 17-2 goal differential against MW opponents at home this season. The Aztecs beat Nevada (5-0), UNLV (2-0), San Jose State (2-1), Fresno State (4-0) and Colorado State (1-0) on the Sports Deck before taking down the Rebels again 3-1 in the MW Championship Quarterfinals. SDSU had the same 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.
This is SDSU’s 24th tournament appearance out of 25 Mountain West Championships. The Aztecs have made it every year except 2018 and hold a 21-13-7 record all time in tournament matches. San Diego State is 9-7-2 in the Semifinal round and 7-8-2 when facing Boise State. The Aztecs are 2-4-1 as the No. 4 seed and 1-3-1 when facing the top seed.
Boise State (15-3-2, 8-1-2 MW) hasn’t played since a 2-0 defeat at No. 25 Utah State on October 31. That loss snapped a five-match winning streak and an 11-match unbeaten streak going back to a 2-0 loss at Montana on September 19. The Aztecs and Broncos have faced off 20 times with 11 Aztec wins and no ties. San Diego State is 5-3 when facing the Broncos at home including wins in the last three matches and five of the last six. SDSU won 1-0 last season and has wins in four of the last seven meetings, but the Broncos won 2-0 in the regular season this year.
With a win on Wednesday, the Aztecs would play at 6 p.m. on Saturday against the winner of No. 2-seed Utah State and No. 3-seed Colorado State. The entire tournament is being broadcast on the Mountain West Network.