SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State men’s soccer team plays at Air Force in their conference opener Saturday evening at 5 p.m. The match was originally scheduled for 6 p.m. It will be streamed on ESPN+, unless the government shutdown is still ongoing.
Aztec Tidbits
- The Aztecs are coming off a 1-0 shutout at Cal State Fullerton last Saturday. Goalkeeper Eddy Vargas made 11 saves and earned WAC Goalkeeper of the Week.
- Juan Zepeda scored the game-winning goal, his second of the year.
- This was SDSU’s first win when being outshot by their opponent.
- The Aztecs played without six starters due to injury.
- SDSU is averaging 6.10 corner kicks per match, the most in the WAC and 34th most in the nation. The Aztecs have had more corner kicks than their opponents in seven of their 10 matches.
- Six of the nine goals SDSU has scored have come from defenders.
- This is just the second time in the last 12 years that SDSU didn’t have a winning record in non-conference play.
- San Diego State has shown incredible depth this season. 20 different Aztecs have already started a match. No field player averages more than 80 minutes per match, and no one has started more than eight of SDSU’s 10 matches.
- Since the beginning of the 2024 season, SDSU is 13-1-2 when scoring first and 13-2-3 when tied or leading at the half.
- The Aztecs are 26-15-5 (.619) at home since the beginning of the 2021 season.
- SDSU has lost just 10 non-conference matches over their last 33 chances (18-10-5) and is 19-6-2 (.714) in non-conference home matches under Ryan Hopkins (6th season), which includes an 19-5-0 (.791) mark on the SDSU Sports Deck.
- SDSU had a conference-high three players named to the preseason All-WAC Team, as chosen by the league’s coaches. Cianole Nguepissi was named the Preseason Defender of the Year and Terence Okoeguale and Tristan Viviani made the preseason All-WAC Team.
- SDSU had two players named a “Midfielder to Watch” by the United Soccer Coaches: Okoeguale and Carson Ballagh, a transfer from Oakland University.
- According to Top Drawer Soccer, the Aztecs have the 26th best incoming class in 2025 and the sixth best on the West Coast.
- SDSU has 12 newcomers (5 freshmen and 7 transfers). Five of their seven transfers were all-conference honorees at their previous school.
- The Aztecs won the WAC regular season championship last year, the program’s first conference championship in school history. SDSU went undefeated (7-0-1) in the WAC in conference play and shut out their opponents in six of their eight WAC matches.
- SDSU’s 10 wins in 2024 were their most since 2011.
- Head coach Ryan Hopkins was named the WAC Coach of the Year last season.
- The Aztecs were picked to finish first in the WAC in the preseason coaches poll.
- SDSU has been nationally ranked at one point in three of the last four seasons.
- Defender Reid Fisher was selected by Toronto FC with the 23rd overall pick in the MLS SuperDraft in December. He became the third Aztec to be drafted in the last three years, and second in the first round, joining CJ Fodrey (13th overall) and Blake Bowen (59th) who were both selected in the 2022 SuperDraft.
Player Notes
- Eddy Vargas (Yakima, Wash.) won his first WAC Goalkeeper of the Week award after shutting out Cal State Fullerton and collecting 11 saves. It was his fourth career shutout and his previous single match high was five saves.
- Juan Zepeda (Guadalajara, Mexico) scored the game-winning goal in the 17th minute. He leads the team in shots (23) and shots on goal (8).
- Defender Christian Engmann (Seattle, Wash.) leads the team in points (6) and goals (3) and has scored the game-winning goal in all three of SDSU’s four wins. His three game-winning goals are tied for the sixth most in the nation.
- Lleyton Imparato (Tampa Bay, Fla.) and Carson Ballagh are tied for the team lead with three assists.
- Imparato was the AAC Co-Midfielder of the Year last season at Memphis.
- Ballagh (Lake Orion, Mich.) also has two assists. He was on the United Soccer Coaches “Midfielder to Watch” List. Last season as a sophomore at Oakland University he was named to the All-Horizon First Team and United Soccer Coaches All-North Region Third-Team after dishing out a league-high five assists in conference play. Ballagh helped Oakland win the Horizon League regular championship both years he was there and was named to the Horizon League All-Tournament Team on both occasions.
- Terence Okoeguale (Cologne, Germany) joined Ballagh on the “Midfielder to Watch” list and was on the Preseason All-WAC Team. Last season he led the Aztecs with 17 points (6 goals & 5 assists) and was named to the All-WAC First Team and to the United Soccer Coaches Far West All-Region Second-Team. His six goals and five assists both tied for the team lead, and he also led the team in shot on goal percentage (58.3%, 14-for-24).
- Cianole Nguepissi (Birmingham, England) was named the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year. Last year he made the WAC All-Freshman Team after starting every WAC match and helping SDSU post six clean sheets in their eight conference matches.
- Tristan Viviani (Redwood City, Calif.) was also named to the Preseason All-WAC Team.
- Rommee Jaridly (Chino Hills, Calif.) and Beto Apolinar (Los Angeles) are both four-year starters in their fifth year with the program.
- Apolinar and goalkeeper Vargas are the 2025 team captains. It’s the third year Apolinar has been selected as captain.
- Apolinar and Engmann helped lead Ballard FC to the USL 2 Championship match over the summer.
- Transfers Baptiste Boit (Oral Roberts), Stephan Moreira (SIU Edwardsville), Juan Zepeda (Temple) and Imparato (Memphis) were all-conference honorees at their previous school. Imparato (Tampa Bay, Fla.) was named the 2024 AAC Co-Midfielder of the Year and Moreira was the 2023 Ohio Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Year.
- SDSU has 12 seniors and seven of them are in their fifth, sixth (Engmann) or seventh (Vargas) year.
Opponent Notebook (Air Force)
The Falcons are 1-6-2 on the year and 1-2-1 at home… They have been outscored 19-8 and outshot 134-87… Marcos Goni leads the team in points (7) and goals (3)… Oliver Becker has a team-high four assists… Goalkeeper Brody Smith has a goals allowed average of 2.00 and a save percentage of 65.4%... Head coach Greg Dalby is in his first year at Air Force after coming over from Oregon State… The Aztecs are 8-6-0 all-time vs. Air Force… They beat them 2-0 last year.