SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State men’s soccer team hosts Grand Canyon Thursday night in their WAC opener. The Lopes are 7-2-1 and have the highest RPI in the WAC. The match will not be streamed.
Aztec Tidbits
- The Aztecs are coming off a 3-2 win at Air Force Saturday night behind two goals from Juan Zepeda, including the game winner.
- SDSU’s three goals was a season-high vs a DI opponent and it was the first time this year that the Aztecs have won a match that they trailed in.
- This was SDSU’s second straight win when being outshot by their opponent.
- The Aztecs have won three of their last four matches.
- SDSU is 8-0-1 in WAC matches since joining the conference last year.
- The Aztecs are averaging 6.09 corner kicks per match, the second most in the WAC and 35th most in the nation. The Aztecs have had more corner kicks than their opponents in eight of their 11 matches.
- San Diego State is 7-2-1 in their last 10 road matches.
- Since the beginning of the 2024 season, SDSU is 13-1-2 when scoring first and 14-2-3 when tied or leading at the half.
- The Aztecs are 26-15-5 (.619) at home since the beginning of the 2021 season.
- 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 nine of SDSU’s 111 matches.
- 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 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 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
- Juan Zepeda (Guadalajara, Mexico) has scored the game-winning goal in each of the last two matches and has three goals over that span. He leads the team in goals (4), points (8), shots (27) and shots on goal (11).
- Terence Okoeguale (Cologne, Germany) made his first appearance since Sept. 1. He assisted two of SDSU’s goals, including the game-winner, in just 26 minutes of action.
- Okoeguale (Cologne, Germany) 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. 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.
- Eddy Vargas (Yakima, Wash.) won his first WAC Goalkeeper of the Week 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.
- Defender Christian Engmann (Seattle, Wash.) has scored the game-winning goal in three of SDSU’s five wins. His three game-winning goals are tied for the seventh 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.
- 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 (Grand Canyon)
The ‘Lopes are 7-2-1 on the year and have won three matches in a row… This will be just their third road match of the year and they are winless in their first two… In their three match win streak, they outscored their opponents 7-2… On the season they have a +11 goal differential (19-8)… Junior Diuof has 23 points and 10 goals, both of which are third in the nation… Goalkeeper Daniel Ibarra is 5-2-1 with a goals allowed average of 0.67… Head coach George Kiefer is in his second year at GCU. He previously was the head coach at NC State (2017-23) and South Florida (2002-16)… The Aztecs are 4-1-1 all-time vs. Grand Canyon. SDSU won 1-0 at GCU last year.