PALO ALTO, Calif. – The San Diego State women’s soccer team played at No. 2-ranked Stanford on Thursday night. The Aztecs held the Cardinal to just three goals but were unable to muster enough offense in a 3-0 defeat.
San Diego State (1-2) played well defensively in the match against the high-flying Stanford (3-0) attack. The Aztecs held the Cardinal off the board for the first 12 minutes with SDSU keeper Kailey Carlen recording her first save of the night while the defense blocked two additional shots of Stanford’s five total attempts in the opening twelve minutes of the match.
Stanford did all the scoring in the match in a six-minute stretch starting in the 13th minute. Charlotte Kohler found the back of the net at the 12:04 mark, assisted by Allie Montoya. Following another save by Carlen on a Jasmine Aikey shot, the Cardinal scored again 1:15 later, this time off the right foot of Andrea Kitahata. After a blocked shot at 16:32, Montoya pushed in a goal of her own at the 18:00 mark, the final goal of the night for either team.
Carlen tallied her third save of the night on a Montoya shot at 20:40 and was on her way to tying her single-game career-high of four saves in the first half alone. Carlen stopped another Montoya shot on goal in the 22nd minute and the SDSU defense would prevent the Cardinal from putting another shot on frame for the remainder of the first 45 minutes. Alexyz Nakamoto was issued a yellow card at 22:48 for the Aztecs. Coming off a corner kick, Eva Vespa took San Diego State’s first shot and shot on goal a mere second into the 31st minute. Nakamoto would put up a shot of her own in the 41st minute as the teams headed into the locker room with a 3-0 score.
In the second half, Carlen continued her strong night. She stopped shots by Kitahata and Aikey in the 57th and 60th minutes, respectively. Lily Boudet took the first Aztec shot of the second half midway through the 66th minute. In the 74th minute, Carlen made her career-high seventh save of the night. Rory Schank took her second shot as an Aztec at the 87:01 mark, forcing the second Cardinal save of the match. Seconds later, Charlie Gerson was assessed a yellow card. SDSU shut out Stanford for the final 72 minutes of the match.
The Aztecs finished the match with more saves (7-2) while the Cardinal had more shots (30-4), shots on goal (10-2), fouls (5-4) and corner kicks (11-3).
THE NOTE
Entering the night, no team in the nation had a higher scoring average than Stanford's six goals per game against DI competition despite the Cardinal playing then-No. 16 Santa Clara in their previous match. San Diego State pressed all night, holding Stanford to just half of their scoring average coming into the match.
UP NEXT
The Aztecs return to America’s Finest City for their next match, scheduled for 7 p.m. on Saturday, August 30, against UC San Diego at Snapdragon Stadium. Tickets start at $10 and the match will be streamed on the Mountain West Network.