SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State women’s soccer team continued the Mountain West Championship on Wednesday night on the SDSU Sports Deck. Fresh off Sunday’s win over fifth-seeded UNLV, the fourth-seeded Aztecs were matched up against the top-seeded Boise State Broncos in the Semifinal round. Grace Goins gave the Aztecs a 1-0 halftime lead but after falling behind 3-1, a Kali Trevithick goal was all SDSU could muster as Boise State won 3-2 to advance to the championship match.
The defenses for both San Diego State (9-8-4, 6-2-3 Mountain West) and Boise State (16-3-2, 8-1-2 MW) were in control for the majority of the first half. Aztec keeper Alexa Madueno made her first save of the night in the ninth minute. Trinity Coker took a corner kick for SDSU in the 31st minute, passing to Grace Goins, who scored to give San Diego State a 1-0 lead. Carlin Blake looked to add to the lead with a shot on goal in the 35th minute but Genevieve Crenshaw made the stop for the Broncos to keep the score at 1-0 heading into halftime. The Aztecs entered as winners of the previous 19 matches they had led at halftime.
The match changed completely in the second half as Boise State began on the attack. Carly Cross scored for the Broncos less than three minutes after play resumed for the second half. Madueno made back-to-back saves in the 51st and 56th minutes to keep the score even. She made one more save midway through the 69th minute but Boise State’s Morgan Padour scored immediately afterwards as the Broncos took the lead. Just five and a half minutes later, Boise State scored again, this time it was Asia Lawyer, who extended the lead to 3-1.
SDSU stormed back down the field and Emma Fuller and Coker put shots on frame but were turned away by Crenshaw. Finally, the Aztecs broke through as Coker found Kali Trevithick to cut the deficit to one. It was not enough though as the final three Aztec shots all sailed over the goal and Boise State held on 3-2 to advance to the championship match.
San Diego State tallied more saves (4-3) and corner kicks (7-4) while Boise State took more shots (19-18) and had more shots on goal (7-5) and fouls (12-9).
Madueno closes her storied Aztec career atop the program leaderboard in saves with 411 and shutouts with 28. She owns three of the top seven seasons by saves in program history including two of the three seasons with 100 or more saves. With her four saves on Wednesday night, Madueno set her career-high with 103 saves in her final season on The Mesa.
Wednesday night marked the third time since conference play began in late September that the Aztecs scored their only goal of the first half on a Trinity Coker corner kick pass to Grace Goins. Goins, a junior defender, did not score and had just one point across her first two seasons as an Aztec. She has played every minute of every match across her three seasons with the Scarlet and Black.
After just two goals in the regular season, Trevithick finished her collegiate career on a high note, scoring three times in SDSU’s two Mountain West Tournament matches. It was the only time in her career scoring three times over a two-match stretch.
Coker assisted on both goals in the defeat, finishing with three assists during the Aztecs’ two tournament matches. Wednesday was the second time in a two-week stretch that Coker contributed to every Aztec goal. She scored a goal and had two assists in a 3-3 draw at Wyoming on October 24, leading to an appearance on the Top Drawer Soccer National Team of the Week.