OREM, Utah – The San Diego State women’s soccer team (4-2-1) defeated Utah Valley (3-3-1) by a 2-1 score on the road on Saturday night after freshman KK Chowana-Bandhu gave the Aztecs the lead with her first career goal with 22 seconds remaining in the match.
Kailey Carlen made an impact early for the Aztecs, picking up her first save just 61 seconds into the match on a shot by Kate Booth. She stopped another shot 13 minutes later, this one by Sam Curtis. Carlen reached down to save a shot by Kate Shirts early in the 26th minute. Katie Senn had a nice shot opportunity in the 31st minute but it was blocked by a Wolverine, and the teams went into halftime without either squad on the board.
Carlen made a diving stop on another Curtis shot in the 54th minute. A minute later, freshman KK Chowana-Bandhu had the first shot on goal of the match for SDSU, but it was saved by Madeleine Boucher. At the 58-minute mark, Senn received the ball in the box and beat the keeper one-on-one to score the first goal of the match. Alannah Gonzales and Mia Hambro Svendsen were credited with assists on the score.
The Wolverines nearly tied things up in the waning seconds of the 72nd minute but a video review confirmed that the ball did not fully enter the goal. Alexis Leath fired towards the left side of the goal two minutes later, but it was saved. Utah Valley’s Sadie Beardall was given a yellow card in the 77th minute, the first of the match for either side. Boucher stopped a shot by Kenny Moore 15 seconds afterwards.
Utah Valley did tie the score five seconds into the 84th minute on a free kick by Booth. Carlen nearly got a hand on it, but the ball inched by her. Chowana-Bandhu put a shot on target early in the 87th minute that was saved. The next time, at 89:38, there would be no stopping the freshman as she took a long pass by Lily Boudet and booted it past Boucher to win the match for San Diego State.
The Aztecs finished the match with more shots (15-8), shots on goal (6-5) and fouls (7-6). The Wolverines had more corner kicks (3-2), and each team tallied four saves.
THE NOTE
KK Chowana-Bandhu’s goal is the first game-winner in the final minute of a match by an Aztec since Denise Castro scored on a header at 89:32 to win 2-1 at Nebraska in San Diego State’s 2022 season opener, on August 18 of that year.
UP NEXT
The Aztecs return home to play their final two non-conference games on the SDSU Sports Deck next week. SDSU will host Pepperdine at 7 p.m. on Thursday, September 17. On Sunday, September 20, San Diego State will take on Northern Colorado. All home matches on the SDSU Sports Deck have free admission, and the remainder of the Aztecs’ games will be streamed on the Pac-12 YouTube channel.