SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State women’s soccer team was bested 4-0 on Thursday night in its season opener against the No. 25-ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders.
Texas Tech (1-0) started the match well as Kaitlyn Giametta scored just 3:56 into the match and Sam Courtwright scored 2:36 later to put the Red Raiders up 2-0 less than seven minutes into the match. Giametta’s goal was assisted by Taylor Zdrojewski and Macy Blackburn while Courtwright was assisted by Blackburn and Chloe Japic.
San Diego State (0-1) freshman keeper Kailey Carlen logged her first career save on a shot by Zdrojewski in the seventh minute. Japic was given a yellow card in the waning seconds of the 26th minute and a couple minutes later, Mia Lane put the first shot on frame for the Aztecs, forcing a save by Faith Nguyen. Blackburn picked up her third assist of the season in the 34th minute when she found Zdrojewski to make it 3-0 Red Raiders. Katie Senn was able to force a save late in the 34th minute.
Carlen settled in during the second half. A yellow card was assessed to SDSU’s Mia Hambro Svendsen in the 49th minute setting up a shot by Alana Harry but Carlen made the save. Alexyz Nakamoto put a shot on goal a few minutes later but it was saved by Nguyen. In the 66th minute, the Aztecs had their best opportunity of the night, but Lane’s shot missed just left. Raleigh Greason scored the fourth and final goal of the match for Texas Tech with assists from Japic and Millie Elwood at the 78:32 mark. The Red Raiders’ Molly Skurcenski was given a yellow card in the 81st minute. Carlen would stop two more shots in the final ten minutes to keep the score at 4-0.
The Aztecs finished the match with more saves (4-3) and fouls (9-8) while the Red Raiders had more shots (15-8) and shots on goal (8-3). Each team had five corner kicks.
Eight Aztecs made their collegiate debuts on Thursday night, with Carlen, Mia Hambro Svendsen, Alexandra Myrestam, Eva Vespa, Ciara Jade Mitchell, Rory Schank, Mia DeJohn and Briahna Gieger seeing collegiate minutes for the first time. Victoria Miller made her Aztec debut after beginning her career at Ohio State last season. In addition, Charlie Gerson made the first start of her college career after entering off the bench in her first 11 career matches last season.
The Aztecs have a short turnaround before their next home match, which will start at 7 p.m. on Sunday against Cal State Bakersfield on the SDSU Sports Deck. Admission is free and the match will be streamed on the Mountain West Network.