Oct. 18, 2016
SAN DIEGO -
SDSU Women's Soccer Weekly Release
Game Week Preview
San Diego State (7-6-2; 5-1-2 MW) at Colorado State (3-11-2; 1-6-1 MW)
Friday, Oct. 21 | 3 p.m. MT | Mountain West Network | The Lagoon | Fort Collins, Colo.
San Diego State (7-6-2; 5-1-2 MW) at Wyoming (8-7-1; 4-4 MW)
Sunday, Oct. 23 | 1 p.m. MT | Mountain West Network | Louis S. Madrid Sports Complex | Laramie, Wyo.
Storylines
- San Diego State embarks on its final road trip of the season this week as the schedule takes it to Colorado State and Wyoming. SDSU will face the Rams on Friday at The Lagoon before playing the Cowgirls on Sunday at Louis S. Madrid Sports Complex. Both games will stream on the Mountain West Network and GoAztecs.com.
- The trip to the Front Range begins a critical stretch for the Aztecs, who find themselves in second place in the Mountain West standings with 17 points. SDSU trails first-place UNLV by two points (19 points overall) and is closely followed by San José State (16 points), Utah State (15 points), Boise State (14) and Wyoming (12 points).
- SDSU completed a successful homestand with two victories over teams ahead of it in the standings (Boise State, Utah State) at the start of the week. The Aztecs entered last Friday's game vs. Boise State alone in fourth place with 11 points. The Broncos, meanwhile, were in a second-place tie with UNLV with 13 points, and Utah State, last Sunday's foe, sat atop the league with 15 points.
- The Aztecs defeated Boise State thanks to a great all-around performance, which ultimately led to a 2-0 victory. Dani DeRosa got SDSU on the board with her first goal of the season in the 35th minute and Aliyah Utush (MW Offensive Player of the Week), who assisted on DeRosa's goal, added an insurance goal inthe 81st off a feed from Darcy Weiser.
- SDSU had 16 shots vs. the Broncos and almost had as many shots on goal (6) as Boise State had shots for the entire game (8). Utush, herself, had four shots, including two on goal, while four others had at least two attempts (Rachel Speros - 3, Victoria Barba - 2, DeRosa - 2, Xochi Hunter - 2). Gabby English, meanwhile, pocketed her fifth shutout.
- SDSU was solid two days later vs. Utah State despite having to come from behind to win, 2-1. The Aztecs enjoyed all the dangerous chances, but the Aggies struck first off a corner kick in the 30th minute. Undeterred, San Diego State continued to put pressure on the USU backline and finally broke through in the 62nd minute when Barba nailed a free kick for a goal after Hedda Regefalk was taken down at the top of the box. Barba, the MW Defensive Player of the Week, later netted the game-winner in the 87th minute from the corner of the box off a pass from Utush.
- The Aztecs outshot the Aggies, 19-5, with a balanced attack that featured 10 shots in the first half and nine in the second. As for Utah State, it had four shots in the first 45 minutes, but did not attempt another until the 88th minute. SDSU also had five on net, while the Aggies had two. Utush, herself, matched USU's totals for shots (5) and shots on goal (2).
- Utush's goal vs. Boise State gave her three on the season, which tied her with Angela Mitchell for the team lead. The duo was joined by Barba, who upped her season total to three with her pair vs. Utah State. Going back to Utush, she now leads the team with five assists after helping on both game-winners last week.
- As a result of San Diego State's two wins, head coach Mike Friesen moved atop the Mountain West's leaderboard for most career conference victories. The 10th-year head coach now has 60 wins, which is one more than Brigham Young's Jennifer Rockwood, who coached in the Mountain West from 1999-2010. Friesen's all-time MW record is now 60-12-9.
- Friesen is also closing in on San Diego State's all-time career wins record, which is held by Chuck Clegg (122). Friesen's overall record is 119-63-25 and his career winning percentage of .635 is tops in program history.
- SDSU heads to Colorado State having never lost to the Rams in three tries. The Aztecs have outscored CSU, 7-0, in three games, but their only trip to Fort Collins required double overtime before emerging with the 1-0 win.
- San Diego State is 15-3-1 vs. Wyoming and enters Sunday's game on a three-game series winning streak, including a 2-1 victory last year in Laramie. The Aztecs are 5-3-1 at Wyoming.
Opponent Notebook
Colorado State
The Rams dropped both of their games last week at Fresno State and San José State... CSU is winless in its last five games, going 0-4-1 during that span... Two of Colorado State's victories have come at The Lagoon in addition to its two draws... The Rams' lone conference win was a 1-0 double-overtime decision vs. Nevada at home... Kaija Ornes leads the team in goals (4) and points (8)... Hannah Gerdin has a team-best two assists... Paige Brandt started both games in net last week and has a GAA of 1.81.
Wyoming
The Cowgirls split a pair of games last week, falling at San José State before defeating Fresno State on the road... Wyoming dropped four straight before winning four of its last five games... The Cowgirls are averaging 2.2 goals over their last five while yielding 1.2 goals per game... Michaela Stark leads Wyoming with five goals on the year with Sammi Dunda leading the team in assists (4)... Georgia Rowntree is the goalkeeper and has a 1.28 GAA.