Aug. 28, 2012
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State women's soccer team, off to their first 4-0 start in 16 seasons, has entered the most recent National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll at No. 25. The Aztecs received 88 votes and are the lone team from the Mountain West in the Aug. 28 poll.
"We are honored to be recognized by the other coaches and excited about our start to the season, but we are focused on the end goals we have set for our program," head coach Mike Friesen said. "The team has done a fantastic job of remaining focused on our process and we will continue to remind them that our success will come when we focus on that process each day."
SDSU also moved up two spots to No. 3 in the NSCAA Pacific Region poll, trailing UCLA and Stanford. The Aztecs are the only team from the Mountain West in this poll as well.
This past week, SDSU picked up a 1-0 victory against Saint Francis and then notched a 2-0 win against Seattle U. On Wednesday against Saint Francis, sophomore forward Haley Locker tallied the game-winner in the 79th minute and then the Aztecs used early goals from redshirt senior Tiffany Hurst and another from Locker to blank Seattle U.
SDSU's great start resulted in a number of player-of-the-week honors. Locker garnered Mountain West Offensive Player of the Week accolades as well as being named CollegeSportsMadness.com MW Player of the Week. Junior midfielder Carli Johnson, meanwhile, was tabbed MW Defensive Player of the Week after playing all 180 minutes last week and leading the defense to its third and fourth consecutive shutout of the season. Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Rachel Boaz rounded out the accolades for the Aztecs as she was named to TopDrawerSoccer.com's Team of the Week.
San Diego State will wrap up its season-opening five-game home stand on Friday when it takes on No. 5 Pepperdine at the SDSU Sports Deck.