SAN DIEGO – San Diego State head women’s soccer coach Mike Friesen has announced the ten newcomers joining the team for this fall’s 2025 season.
Following the graduation of Alexa Madueno, the Aztecs brought in Chula Vista native Kailey Carlen to join Taryn Grobbel and Brynn Korpela in the goalkeeper’s room. Carlen played her club ball for Rebels SC.
A trio of freshman defenders are joining a position group anchored by senior Grace Goins, who has played every minute of every match for San Diego State over the last three seasons. Mia DeJohn hails from Boulder, Colorado, where she competed for the Colorado Rapids club team, leading the side to an Elite 8 National Finals appearance in 2023-24. A four-year letterwinner at Boulder High School, DeJohn holds the career assists record there. A native of Oslo, Norway, Mia Hambro Svendsen played for the Roea Dynamite Girls team and the Norwegian National Team. Svendsen is a four-time Player of the Match for Norway and helped her home country to the European Championship Qualifier with the U17 team. Rounding out the defensive additions is another European, Alexandra Myrestam, of Stockholm, Sweden. She played for Bollstanas SK.
The Aztecs will have more minutes to go around at the midfielder position as well after mainstays Denise Castro, Alyza Eckhardt and Olivia Sekimoto all graduated. One addition is Auburn transfer Rory Schank, who injured her ACL last season and redshirted. A four-year letterwinner, she led Flower Mound High School to a Texas 6A State Championship and was the Offensive Player of the Year in 2021. Schank played for several club teams, making the ECNL Finals with FC Dallas, and was a ECNL National Selection with Sting Dallas Black. Joining Schank at midfielder is Eva Wierzbowski, from Doylestown, Pennsylvania. She was a two-time SOL first team all-league selection during her four seasons playing for Central Bucks High School West. She also played for club PDA Blue, finishing as a ECNL National Semifinalist in 2022 and Quarterfinalist in 2023 while helping the squad to four consecutive Atlantic Division titles.
SDSU is adding five players including its other transfer at forward, looking to bring in offense to a roster who’s leading returning scorer is Goins, a defender. Victoria Miller comes from Ohio State and appeared in 15 matches, starting twice for the Buckeyes as a freshman last season on a squad that made the Sweet 16. Miller attended Detroit Country Day, leading the Yellow Jackets to an MHSAA State Championship as a freshman. She was named to the Women’s Super League Best Eleven while playing for her club team, Corktown WFC. A teammate of Carlen with Rebels SC, San Diego native Briahna Gieger is also joining the Aztecs. The newcomers are rounded out with a pair of Canadian freshmen, Jade Mitchell from Vancouver, British Columbia, and Eva Vespa from St. Leonard, Quebec. Mitchell competed for the Vancouver Whitecaps club team while Vespa played for FC Laval.
Last season, the Aztecs logged their third straight winning record overall and finished .500 or better in conference play for the 16th consecutive season, going 9-8-4 (6-2-3 Mountain West) and finishing fourth in the Mountain West standings. SDSU knocked off UNLV 3-1 in the MW Quarterfinals to advance to the Semifinals, where it fell 3-2 against top-seeded Boise State.