SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State women’s soccer team (6-2-1) coasted to a 5-0 win over Northern Colorado (3-4-2) on the SDSU Sports Deck on Sunday.
Kenny Moore took the first shot on target for the Aztecs, in the 11th minute, but it was saved by Thordis Melsted. Four minutes later, Alexis Leath came across from the left side of the goal and passed to Moore, who fired the ball past Melsted to give the Aztecs a 1-0 lead. A minute later, Leath forced another save. In the 18th minute, Katie Senn ran up to a loose ball in the box and turned on it, shooting past Melsted to double the Aztec lead.
The Aztecs looked to add on, but Melsted saved shots by Eva Wees in the 19th minute and Victoria Miller in the 27th. In the 34th minute, Miller passed to Karoline Lundstrom, who found freshman KK Chowana-Bandhu. She dribbled past her defender and used her left leg to flick the ball across into the right side of the goal to extend the lead to three. The Bears finally took their first shot of the day early in the 43rd minute, but it was saved by Kailey Carlen, what would be her only save of the match.
In the 59th minute, Katie Senn took a corner kick and sophomore Briahna Gieger headed it past Melsted for her first career goal. The 5-10 San Diego native was playing in the 23rd match of her career. Melsted saved shots by Lundstrom and Senn, in the 68th and 72nd minutes, respectively.
In the 77th minute, both teams put in their backup goalkeepers. Five minutes later, an Aztec corner kick bounced around the box and Naima Castro took advantage of the opportunity and shot past keeper Lily Kline for her third goal as an Aztec. Late in the 89th minute, the Bears took their second shot on goal of the day, but Sammy Martinez, making her second career appearance in goal at the Division I level, made the save to preserve the shutout for a 5-0 victory.
The Aztecs finished the match with more shots (19-4), shots on goal (11-2) and corner kicks (5-1). The Bears had more saves (6-2), and each team tallied five fouls.
THE NOTE I
San Diego State beat Pacific 7-0 on August 27. The Aztecs have now scored at least five goals in a match multiple times in a season for the first time since 2002, when SDSU defeated both UC Riverside and Nevada by a 5-1 score. The last time that SDSU won multiple matches by at least five goals in a season was 1999, when San Diego State beat Cincinnati 5-0 and Wyoming 6-0.
THE NOTE II
KK Chowana-Bandhu became the first Aztec true freshman to score in three consecutive matches since Rachelle Elve in 2019. Elve scored two goals in a 5-4 win at Air Force on October 18 and also scored in a 3-2 win at Colorado College on October 20 and a 2-1 win in overtime at Fresno State on October 25.
UP NEXT
The Aztecs open up Pac-12 competition with a big home match against Boise State at 7 p.m. on Thursday, October 1. All home matches on the SDSU Sports Deck have free admission, and all of the Aztecs’ Pac-12 matches will be streamed on the Pac-12 YouTube channel.