SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State men’s soccer team hosts California Baptist for their regular season finale Saturday at 7 p.m. The match will be streamed on WAC International TV and admission is free.
Aztec Tidbits
- The Aztecs are in first place with 11 points and will win their second straight WAC regular season championship with a win Saturday.
- SDSU could also win the championship outright with a draw if the following happens: Utah Tech ties or loses to Utah Valley Friday and Grand Canyon ties or loses to UNLV Saturday. The GCU-UNLV match starts an hour before SDSU’s match.
- Prior to the match, 15 players will be honored for senior night, including Reid Fisher, who would’ve been a senior this year had he not left school early to play with Toronto FC after being selected with the 23rd overall pick in last year’s MLS SuperDraft.
- The Aztecs are coming off a 1-0 win at Utah Valley Saturday. Baptiste Boit scored the game-winning goal in the 70th minute, which earned him WAC Defensive Player of the Week honors, and redshirt freshman Trevor Wilson posted a shutout in his first career start in goal.
- This was the first time all year that Utah Valley had been shutout. They are the WAC’s highest scoring team.
- SDSU has just one loss in their last seven matches (4-1-2).
- The Aztecs have lost just one match since joining the WAC as an affiliate member last season (10-1-3).
- 10 of SDSU’s 16 matches have been decided by one goal or ended in a tie.
- Four of the Aztecs’ seven wins have come when they were outshot by their opponent.
- Since the beginning of the 2024 season, SDSU is 15-1-2 (.889) when scoring first and 16-2-4 (.818) when tied or leading at the half.
- The Aztecs are outscoring their opponents 16-8 in the second half.
- SDSU is 5-0-1 when scoring two or more goals and 7-1-2 when scoring at least once.
- The Aztecs are 27-16-6 (.612) at home since the beginning of the 2021 season.
- San Diego State is 8-2-2 in their last 12 road matches.
- 21 different Aztecs have started a match, and no one has started more than 14 of SDSU’s 16 matches.
- Nine of SDSU’s 18 goals 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.
- 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 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 a 19-5-0 (.791) mark on the SDSU Sports Deck.
- SDSU has been nationally ranked at one point in three of the last four seasons.
- Three Aztecs have been taken in the MLS SuperDraft in the last three years: joining CJ Fodrey (13th overall, 2022), Reid Fisher (23rd, 2024) and Blake Bowen (59th, 2022).
Player Notes
- Baptiste Boit (Clermont-Ferrand, France) was named the WAC Defensive Player of the Week after scoring the game-winner at Utah Valley last week and helping SDSU keep the Wolverines scoreless for the first time this season. He has three goals on the year.
- Redshirt freshman Trevor Wilson (Seattle, Wash.) posted a shutout in his first career start at Utah Valley Saturday. He had played just nine minutes prior to Saturday and made five saves against the WAC’s top scoring team.
- Defender Christian Engmann (Seattle, Wash.) leads the team with points and is tied for the team lead with four goals.
- Juan Zepeda (Guadalajara, Mexico) is tied for the team lead in goals (4), shots (35) and shots on goal (14).
- Terence Okoeguale (Cologne, Germany) leads the team in shot on goal percentage (46.7%, minimum 15 shots). He was named a “Midfielder to Watch” by the United Soccer Coaches 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.
- Carson Ballagh (Lake Orion, Mich.) joined Okoeguale on the “Midfielder to Watch” List. He is tied for the team lead with four assists. 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.
- Lleyton Imparato (Tampa Bay, Fla.) is tied with Ballagh for the team lead with four assists, all of which have come off set pieces. Imparato was the AAC Co-Midfielder of the Year last season at Memphis.
- Six players are averaging at least 70 minutes per match: Cianole Nguepissi, Josh Lucas, Juan Zepeda, Engmann, Boit and Tristan Viviani.
- Nguepissi (Birmingham, England) was named the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year. He leads the team in minutes (80/match)
- Viviani (Redwood City, Calif.) was also named to the Preseason All-WAC Team. He scored the game-winning assist at Utah Valley Saturday.
- 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 (California Baptist)
The Lancers are 8-3-3 on the year and 3-2-1 in WAC play, good for third place… They are 4-2-1 on the road… They have the top RPI in the WAC (No. 46) and are 4-2-1 against top 100 teams… They can win the WAC regular season championship with a win and a Utah Tech loss or draw… They are outscoring opponents 26-14… Blake D’agostino leads the team in points (19) and goals (9)… Goalkeeper Hugo Do Rego has a goals allowed average of 1.08… Head coach Coe Michaelson (10th season) is 96-59-36 all-time… The Aztecs are 2-0 all-time vs. CBU. They beat them 2-1 on the road last year.
Coach Hopkins’ Take
“A few weeks ago, many had left us for dead, but we never stopped believing and never quit. That grit and resilience has brought us to the brink of our second straight WAC regular season championship. It won’t be easy with a top opponent like CBU, but the best things in life never are.”