Feb. 28, 2016
CORONA DEL MAR, Calif. - No. 19 San Diego State ended its time at the UCI Invitational with an 8-6 victory over T-No. 25 CSUN at Corona del Mar High School Sunday night. The win propels the Aztecs, who never trailed in the game, to 5-8 on the season.
SDSU struck first with a goal from Makena Magro, but the Matadors answered with a power-play goal from Taitum Herrington as the game entered the second eight minutes tied at 1-1. The Aztecs then went on to score three unanswered goals covering the entire second quarter and a majority of the third.
Ioli Benekou doubled San Diego State's advantage with the first of her four goals and Taylor Gums followed Benekou's lead with a goal just under two minutes to play in the half. After intermission, Benekou scored again, this time with 4:36 left in the third frame. The Aztecs did not allow a goal until Miranda Coleman scored with 3:21 left, ending a 16-minute-38-second-span of not bleeding a goal. Katy Schneider found the back of the net before the end of the third to make it a 5-2 game.
Benekou recorded her third goal of the evening just over two minutes into the fourth quarter and then things got interesting. CSUN managed to score a pair of goals in a matter of 40 seconds to trail, 6-4, with four minutes to play. Amy Yule made it a 6-5 game with 2:43 to go, but Caroline Israels gave San Diego State some breathing room 21 seconds later.
The contest was nearing a close and the clock was approaching 1:00, but before all of that, Katelyn Fairchild brought the Matadors back to within one goal at 7-6. San Diego State locked down defensively and held CSUN off the scoreboard for the remainder of the game, and Benekou added an insurance goal with 32 seconds left to secure the win.
SDSU returns to action on Friday when it travels to Azusa Pacific for a 5 p.m. PT Golden Coast Conference match-up. The Aztecs, who are two-time defending regular-season champions, are 1-0 in league after defeating Concordia last Friday on the road, 14-1.
No. 19 San Diego State 8, T-No. 25 CSUN 6
Corona del Mar High School; Corona del Mar, Calif.
SDSU 1-2-2-3—8
CSUN 1-0-1-4—6
SDSU goals: Benekou 4, Gums 1, Israels 1, Magro 1, Schneider 1
CSUN goals: Herrington 2, Coleman 1, Fairchild 1, Sanchez 1, Yule 1
SDSU saves: Mitchell 9
CSUN saves: Van Vugt 8