LOGAN, Utah – The San Diego State women’s soccer team (10-4-3, 4-2-2 Pac-12) came up short at No. 22 Utah State (13-3-3, 6-1-1 Pac-12) by a 2-0 score on Thursday night.
Both defenses were able to prevent the opposing offense from scoring in the first half. San Diego State started on the attack and Naima Castro forced Utah State goalkeeper Ivy Nystrom to make her first save just 39 seconds into the match. Kailey Carlen made her first save of the night on a shot by Summer Diamond early in the eighth minute. Ten minutes later, Alexyz Nakamoto had the Aztecs’ second and final shot on goal of the night. It was saved.
Carlen kept working in goal to keep the score knotted at two. She stopped a shot by Mia Lopez in the 27th and one more by Ellie Hendrix a minute later. In the waning seconds of the half, Carlen made one more save on a shot by Lila Emmetsberger to keep the shutout intact heading into halftime.
It appeared Utah State took the lead on a goal by Kate Christian 70 seconds after play resumed but after a replay review, the referees determined that Christian was offsides. Carlen continued her excellent play into the second half, saving a shot by Austin Miller at the end of the 56th minute.
The match started to get chippy late as both Carlen and the Utah State bench were issued yellow cards in the 67th minute. 50 seconds later, Christian gave the Aggies the lead when she scored on what looked like a cross that caromed off the left post and into the goal. Capriel Winder was credited with an assist. After a couple of minutes, USU nearly extended its lead on a header that deflected off the crossbar, but the entire ball did not cross the plane of the goal. Emmetsberger was given a yellow card for Utah State in the 75th minute before Emma Fuller was carded for SDSU two minutes afterwards. In the 76th and 82nd minutes, Carlen saved shots by Kunie Hirai. The second save led to a corner kick and a few seconds afterwards, Kei Yoneda scored from right in front of the goal with assists by Summer Diamond and Summer Sofonia. It looked like Yoneda could have been offsides, but the goal stood after review. The Aztecs were unable to respond with a goal of their own, falling 2-0.
The Aztecs finished the match with more saves (7-2) and corner kicks (4-3). The Aggies had more shots (19-8), shots on goal (9-2) and fouls (3-2).
THE NOTE
Kailey Carlen matched her career high with seven saves. She had previously saved seven shots in road matches at Stanford and Pepperdine last season, on August 21 and September 11, respectively.
UP NEXT
The Aztecs will be the third seed in next week’s Pac-12 Tournament and match up against Pac-12 co-champions and second seed Boise State in the semifinals on Wednesday. The match will be at either 3 p.m. PT or 6:30 p.m. PT and air on Pac-12 YouTube.