SAN DIEGO – San Diego State men’s soccer team plays San Jose State in the first round of the WAC Tournament Sunday at 7 p.m. The match will be streamed on ESPN+.
Aztec Tidbits
- The Aztecs lost to California Baptist 2-1 in their regular season finale after the Lancers scored in the 89th minute.
- SDSU entered the match tied for first place, but after the loss and unfortunate results across the conference, the Aztecs fell to the No. 5 seed in the WAC Tournament.
- This was SDSU’s first time losing when holding a lead this season. They were 7-0 prior to that.
- The Aztecs tied San Jose State 2-2 on the road on Oct. 23, and faced them in last year’s WAC Tournament semifinals, which the Spartans won. The winner of Sunday’s match will face the No. 1 California Baptist, who is the host school, Wednesday at 7 p.m.
- Baptiste Boit and Christian Engmann were named to the All-WAC Second Team.
- The Aztecs have lost just two regular season matches over the last two years (10-2-3).
- 11 of SDSU’s 17 matches have been decided by one goal or ended in a tie.
- Since the beginning of the 2024 season, SDSU is 15-2-2 (.842) when scoring first and 16-3-4 (.783) when tied or leading at the half.
- The Aztecs are outscoring their opponents 16-10 in the second half.
- SDSU is 5-0-1 when scoring two or more goals and 7-2-2 when scoring at least once.
- The Aztecs are 27-17-6 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 15 of SDSU’s 1 matches.
- Nine of SDSU’s 19 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’s 10 wins in 2024 were their most since 2011.
- Head coach Ryan Hopkins was named the WAC Coach of the Year last 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 a 19-5-0 (.791) mark on the SDSU Sports Deck.
- 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
- Defender Baptiste Boit (Clermont-Ferrand, France) was named to the All-WAC Second Team. He has scored three goals and was the WAC Defensive Player of the Week two weeks ago after scoring the game-winner at Utah Valley.
- Defender Christian Engmann (Seattle, Wash.) was also named to the All-WAC Second Team.He leads the team with points and is tied for the team lead with four goals.
- Redshirt freshman Trevor Wilson (Seattle, Wash.) has started the last two matches in goal. He posted a shutout in his first career start at Utah Valley. He had played just nine minutes prior to that, and made five saves against the WAC’s top scoring team.
- Juan Zepeda (Guadalajara, Mexico) is tied for the team lead in goals (4), shots (37) and shots on goal (15).
- Terence Okoeguale (Cologne, Germany) is third on the team with eight points and leads the team in shot on goal percentage (52.9%, 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 (81/match).
- Rommee Jaridly (Chino Hills, Calif.) and Beto Apolinar (Los Angeles) are both four-year starters in their fifth year with the program. Tristan Viviani (Redwood City, Calif.) is also a four-year starter.
- 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 (San Jose State)
The Spartans are 10-3-4 on the year and went 3-2-2 in WAC play… Their 10 wins are tied for the most in the WAC… They are 7-2-1 away from home… They have outscored opponents 30-17… They have three players with 10 or more points and are led by Angel Iniguez’s 22 points (8 goals and 6 assists)… Goalkeeper Edgar Guerra has a goals allowed average of 0.96 and seven shutouts… Head coach Simon Tobin has 393 career victories, No. 5 in DI among active coaches…The Aztecs are 6-11-2 all-time vs. SJSU… The series is tied 1-1-1 since the Aztecs joined the WAC.
Coach Hopkins’ Take
“We have a ton of familiarity with San Jose State, playing them for a fourth time in a year. Both teams know each other well and I expect the match to be fitting of knockout soccer. Fiesty, competitive with both teams putting it all on the line to advance.”