SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State men’s soccer team (1-1-1) beat Life Pacific 7-1 to earn their first win of the season Thursday evening. The Aztecs had 32 shots with 20 of them being on frame and exploded for six goals in the second half.
“We made some tactical changes at the half, and we were flying right out of the gate in the second half,” Head coach Ryan Hopkins said after the match. “I’m proud of the second half performance and I think it showed what we are capable of doing.”
Lucas Caffo and Nik Orth each scored twice and SDSU had goals from Greyson Moreno, Jaxson Hutcheon and Adam Okorodudu. Yahir Ocampo-Navarro, Kian McCusker and Gio Aguirre each had two assists.
SDSU’s first goal came in the 23rd minute when Greyson Moreno finished an assist by McCusker and Aguirre.
The Aztecs only held a 9-5 shot advantage in the first half but wasted no time in the second half. Lucas Caffo scored his two goals in a 15 second span in the 49th minute. The first was assisted by McCusker and Ocampo-Navarro and the second was helped by a nifty pass from Aguirre.
The Warriors scored their lone goal in the 52nd minute when Angel Ballesteros cleaned up a deflected shot attempt by Jesus Pitalla-Cruz.
Orth scored the first of his two goals when he converted a penalty kick in the 70th minute.
Jaxson Hutcheon was creating chances all evening but was constantly turned away by Life Pacific’s goalkeeper Carlos Rodriguez, who had 13 saves and four on Hutcheon alone. Hutcheon finally found the back of the net in the 77th minute.
SDSU scored again three minutes later when freshman Adam Okorodudu scored his first career goal.
The Aztecs’ last goal came on a free kick from Nik Orth from 25 yards out.
SDSU goalkeeper Trevor Wilson made two saves in 77 minutes of action and Andrew Klott held the Warriors scoreless in the final 13 minutes.
STAT OF THE MATCH
The Aztecs outshot the Warriors 23-4 in the second round.
QUOTE OF THE MATCH
“Lucas [Caffo] is our little energizer bunt. We always know he can give us a jolt of energy. He is a fantastic kid, and we were happy to see him get rewarded tonight.” Head coach Ryan Hopkins talking about Lucas Caffo scoring his first two career goals
THE NOTE
Every single healthy field player for SDSU appeared in the match and played at least 10 minutes.
UP NEXT
The Aztecs play at Cal Poly Sunday at 7 p.m. The match will be streamed on ESPN+