Oct. 29, 2010
SAN DIEGO -
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A pair of goals scored by freshmen sent San Diego State's four seniors off in style as the Aztecs blanked visiting UNLV, 2-0, Friday afternoon at SDSU Sports Deck. The victory propels the Aztecs to 7-9-3 overall and 5-2 in the Mountain West Conference. The Rebels, meanwhile, fall to 10-7-1 (2-4-1 MWC).
Prior to the contest, San Diego State honored its four seniors in Britney Bennett, Michaela DeJesus, Grace Shevlin and Aubree Southwick. With the result, the quartet became the winningest senior class at SDSU during the 12-year history of the Mountain West Conference. The win also ties the school record for most wins in a single MWC campaign, matching last year's championship squad and the 1999 NCAA Tournament team.
San Diego State dominated the first half and spent a majority of the time in UNLV territory. In the first 45 minutes, the Aztecs outshot the Rebels, 8-1, and enjoyed a 3-0 edge in corner kicks. Sophomore Sarah Halverson created SDSU's first prime opportunity when she found Megan Jurado from 12 yards out, but the bang-bang play resulted in a shot that sailed high in the 11th minute. Less than six minutes later, Jurado initiated the action and flicked the ball to Bennett, who had a clear look from 25 yards out, but her blast went right.
After a scoreless first half, the Aztecs came out and struck early. Roughly 30 seconds into the second period UNLV was whistled for a foul, which awarded San Diego State with a free kick. Freshman Haley Palmer sent a ball into the box and it made its way to the front of the net where classmate Soledad Gomez was waiting. With the ball loose, the Vista, Calif., native calmly tapped her shot past the sprawling UNLV keeper, recording her third goal of the season and giving the Aztecs a 1-0 lead with 43 minutes left in regulation.
Later, freshman Zoe Carroll entered the game at the 56:10 mark and almost immediately made an impact. The Aztecs were, again, in attack mode and DeJesus found herself in the middle of the box. The senior connected with Carroll, who was on her right, and the first-year player from Napa, Calif., knocked in a beautiful shot into the upper right corner of the net. The goal at 62:04 was Carroll's first of her career. In fact, Carroll almost notched her first career multi-goal outing in the 79th minute as her shot forced the Rebel keeper to retreat and leap just to make the stop.
With a 2-0 advantage, San Diego State managed to keep the pressure on UNLV, while not allowing any quality chances for the visitors and the Aztecs emerged with their fifth straight victory at home.
SDSU finished the game with more shots (15-9), shots on goal (7-2) and corner kicks (4-2). Sophomore goalkeeper Megan Allaire made a career-high two saves in a personal-best 90 minutes, while starting for Southwick, who was forced to sit out due to a red card in the team's previous game. Allaire also shut out her first opponent of her career to pick up her first collegiate win. The blanking was the second that Allaire has been a part of as she and Southwick combined to keep Wyoming off the scoreboard earlier this season.
Palmer and DeJesus, meanwhile, logged their team-best fifth assists of 2010. DeJesus now has a SDSU-best 13 points, while Palmer ranks third with seven points.
The Aztecs currently sit in second place in the Mountain West with 15 points and still have a shot to lock up a first-round bye at next week's MWC Championship, which is slated for SDSU Sports Deck. BYU has 13 points and plays at Utah on Saturday night. A Cougar loss or tie will secure the No. 2 seed in the tournament for San Diego State. Pairings will be announced this weekend following the conclusion of conference play on Saturday.
The Mountain West Championship is up next for the Aztecs and is set for Nov. 3-6. For ticket information, please contact the Aztec Ticket Office at (619) 283-7378.