Oct. 9, 2016
San Diego State-Nevada Final Box
RENO, Nev. - Angela Mitchell scored the golden goal with three seconds left in the second overtime period to lift San Diego State to a 2-1 victory at Nevada on Sunday afternoon. The victory propels the Aztecs to a 5-6-2 record (3-1-2 Mountain West), while the Wolf Pack fall to 4-9 (1-5 MW).
"We gave a gritty performance under really tough conditions," head coach Mike Friesen said. "At altitude on a Sunday after playing double overtime on Friday was tough. The field was very difficult to play on as it is very small and bouncy with the turf. It was great to get a result and put ourselves in a great position going forward."
After nearly 20 minutes of scoreless action in overtime, both teams appeared to be headed for a draw, a result SDSU had experienced in two of its last three outings. But like it had all afternoon, the Aztecs were aggressive offensively and put themselves in a position to have one last opportunity before the final horn.
San Diego State had two throw-ins from in front of its bench with under 30 seconds to play. The first was put into play and was quickly sent out of bounds by Nevada. The second throw-in came from Ariana Robles, who gave it to Mitchell. From there, the junior made a few moves on her defender, created space and sent in a 15-yard shot from a hard angle. The strike was directed to the far post where it found the upper corner to send the Aztecs home with the win. The goal was Mitchell's team-leading third of the season.
San Diego State dented the scoreboard first and it came on a quality strike from Hedda Regefalk in the 15th minute. Moments before the goal, Milan Moses had the ball knocked away and it went straight to Regefalk. The senior took two touches and blasted a shot from 25 yards out and into the left side of the cage to post her first goal of the season.
The Wolf Pack tied the score at 1-1 in the 67th minute when a ball was played into the box and back out to the top where Stephanie Martini sent a low skidding shot from 20 yards out toward the lower left corner. The attempt got past SDSU goalkeeper Gabby English to knot the score and the balance of the half played out with the score unchanged setting the scene for Mitchell's heroics more than 40 minutes later.
San Diego State finished with an incredible 38 shots with 15 coming in the first half and 16 in the second. Nevada had 18 shots, but were held to just two in the overtime sessions (1 in OT, 1 in 2OT). In terms of shots on goal, SDSU had 10 and the Wolf Pack had eight.
Moses led all players with 10 shots, with Victoria Barba and Robles contributing seven and five shots, respectively. In all, nine Aztecs attempted multiple shots on the afternoon. English, two days after making a career-high 10 saves, had seven on what appeared to be a windy day.
SDSU returns home on Friday when it plays host to Boise State at 7 p.m. PT. The game will stream live on the Mountain West Network and GoAztecs.com. Admission to the game is free.