Nov. 3, 2010
SAN DIEGO -
(6) Wyoming-(3) San Diego State Final Box in PDF Format 
Third-seeded San Diego State, the defending Mountain West Conference champions, successfully protected its home turf and blanked sixth-seeded Wyoming, 4-0, in the quarterfinal round of the MWC Championship at SDSU Sports Deck. With the victory, the Aztecs improve to 8-9-3 and advance to face second-seeded BYU in Thursday's semifinal, which will be televised live on The Mtn. at 3 p.m.
"I think our team is peaking at the right time of the season and we are playing with a lot of confidence," San Diego State head coach Mike Friesen said. "We had four different players score goals (on Wednesday). We don't have one go-to person on our team, but we've been playing really good team soccer, late in the season especially."
San Diego State shocked the Cowgirls and scored just 1 minute, 40 seconds into the game. Sophomore Marisa Fraticelli sent a low cross into the box and senior Michaela DeJesus controlled the ball in front of the net and put her shot into the lower left corner from eight yards out. The goal was DeJesus' team-best fifth goal of the season.
Holding a 1-0 lead, the Aztecs did not let up offensively and continually played the ball in Wyoming's third of the field. In the 12th minute, sophomore Sarah Halverson just missed scoring her fourth goal of 2010 when her shot from the left side of the field hit the upper V of the post. Later in the 32nd minute, senior Britney Bennett received a pass from sophomore Megan Jurado and Bennett put the ball past her defender and converted on her breakaway chance putting SDSU up 2-0. Bennett narrowly recorded her second goal of the game two minutes later, but the Cowgirl keeper made a diving save.
In the 37th minute, junior Kim Carcich entered the ballgame and almost immediately made an impact. With the first half coming to a close, Carcich found herself with the ball 18 yards out and calmly ripped a shot that found the upper right corner giving the Aztecs a commanding 3-0 lead going into intermission. The goal was Carcich's second of the season.
In the second half, San Diego State continued to pepper the Wyoming keeper with shots and posted its fourth goal of the afternoon in the 75th minute. Fraticelli sent a ball down field to freshman Monique Rootsaert, who found an oncoming Jurado. The sophomore was left all alone and the San Jose native cashed in from seven yards out to notch her first goal of the season.
As effective as the offense was, the defense just equally impressive. The Aztec backline of all-MWC first-team selection Megan McQueeny, MWC Freshman of the Year Haley Palmer, sophomore Rachael McGlinchy, freshman Megan Erskine, Fraticelli and Grace Shevlin routinely prevented Wyoming from getting quality opportunities. The group limited the Cowgirls to just seven shots with zero coming on goal. As a result of their effort, all-MWC goalkeeper Aubree Southwick had a quiet day and played all 90 minutes.
At the final horn, SDSU finished with an advantage in shots (20-7) and shots on goal (11-0).
The victory is San Diego State's fourth straight in MWC Championship play and its fifth consecutive at home. The Aztecs have now won 13 of their last 15 against the Mountain West and are unbeaten in 15 of the last 17 vs. the league. The four goals, meanwhile, is a school record for goals in a single MWC tournament game.
The Aztecs return to the pitch on Thursday to face the Cougars. Earlier this season, BYU emerged with a 1-0 victory in Provo. The last time SDSU and Brigham Young met in the conference tournament was in the 2009 championship game. The Aztecs earned the league's automatic bid after it beat the Cougars, 1-0, on its home field.