Game Week Preview
San Diego State (2-3; 0-0 MW) at San Diego (2-2-1; 0-0 WCC)
Friday, Sept. 7 | 7 p.m. PT | TheW.tv | Torero Stadium | San Diego, Calif.
Notes
- San Diego State is set to finish a four-game road stretch this Friday when it travels west on Interstate 8 for a showdown with cross-town foe San Diego. The final non-conference road tilt, slated to stream on TheW.tv, is set for a 7 p.m. PT start at Torero Stadium.
- The Aztecs opened the month of September with a gritty 1-0 win at UC Davis on a hot Sunday afternoon. SDSU received the game-winning goal from true freshman Lovisa Norrby in the 65th minute. The defender scored off a corner kick started by senior Nikolina Musto. It marked the second time this season the Aztecs have scored off a Musto corner.
- San Diego State's road win at UCD on Sept. 2 marked its earliest road triumph since the 2015 campaign. That year, the Aztecs won at No. 16 Kentucky on Aug. 23.
- SDSU's victory over the Aggies helped put behind a rough three-game losing streak in which it was outscored, 6-2, by three teams that were receiving votes in the United Soccer Coaches top-25 poll. On the first leg of the last week's road trip, the Aztecs fell at California, 3-1, with Florence Laroche scoring off a Chloe Frisch feed.
- Frisch recorded her first assist of the season and first since her appearance at New Mexico back on Oct. 27, 2017. She has four helpers in 23 career games and is one of three Aztecs to have at least one assist in 2018, joining Musto (2) and Ariana Robles (1).
- All of San Diego State's goals this season have been scored by true freshmen. Taylor Moorehead and Lauren Dicus scored against New Mexico State and Texas Tech, respectively, before Laroche and Norrby reached the scoring column last week. SDSU's final goal of 2017 was also scored by a true freshman -- Mia Root in the first round of the NCAA tournament at UCLA.
- Musto has two assists in five games this season to lead the team in the category and it comes off a year in which she had zero in 22 games a season ago. The senior midfielder is one assist shy of matching her 2016 season high at Idaho State and needs three to tie her single-season career high.
- Gabby English blanked UC Davis and posted her second shutout of 2018, giving her 17.5 for her career. Her next shutout will move her past Rachel Boaz for fourth place on SDSU's career shutout list. Boaz had 18 shutouts over a career that spanned the 2011-12 campaigns.
- English moved into fifth place on the Aztecs' career saves list with her season-high eight-save effort at UC Davis. The junior goalkeeper has 187 career denials, just one stop more than Linnea Quinones, who played atop The Mesa from 1998-2001. Katherine Judkins (1996-99) occupies the fourth spot on the list with 192 saves.
- The Aztecs have used five different starting lineups over the course of the first five games of 2018. The notable difference last week was the insertion of Norrby into the lineup in both games. The freshman from Sweden has played in three consecutive games after not playing in the first two outings of the season. Entering this week's action, she owns a consecutive minutes streak of 229:53.
- Norrby's recent contribution and the effort from the entire backline has helped the Aztecs limit their foes to a miniscule 8.0-percent shot percentage. SDSU's opponents have scored six goals on 75 attempts, which is below the Aztecs' 10.8-percent mark (4 goals on 37 attempts).
- SDSU is facing San Diego for a sixth consecutive season with the Aztecs posting a 3-2 record in the previous five occasions. Each of the last two meetings in Linda Vista, however, have resulted 2-0 Torero victories (2014, 2016).
- The Aztecs carry a 10-6-1 all-time record vs. San Diego into the road date. SDSU has won four of the last six meetings with the Toreros, all of which have occurred under head coach Mike Friesen's watch. Last year, the Scarlet and Black emerged with a 3-1 victory at SDSU Sports Deck. In that game, then-freshman Esther Arnarsdottir scored twice and Root recorded the first of what would be a team-high 10 goals in 2017.
- San Diego State is 4-6 in road games vs. the Toreros. The Aztecs will be in search of their first road win over USD since Oct. 7, 1998. Since winning by a score of 4-2 nearly 10 years ago, SDSU has dropped five in a row at San Diego.
- After its cross-town matchup with USD, San Diego State will have the rest of the weekend to prepare heading into its final non-conference weekend of the year when it will host a pair of 2017 NCAA tournament teams in Pepperdine (Sept. 14) and No. 7 UCLA (Sept. 16). Both games will stream on the Mountain West Network.
Opponent Notebook
San Diego
The Toreros are 2-2-1 and are coming off a 1-0 week after they downed Utah Valley, 4-1, at home... Prior to that, USD traveled to Texas where it defeated Sam Houston State, 2-0, before suffering a 3-0 loss to ninth-ranked Texas A&M... San Diego's other results were a scoreless tie at Virginia Tech in the season opener and a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Georgia in Blacksburg, Va.... Coming back to this past week, USD trailed Utah Valley, 1-0, only to score all four of its goals in the final 39:46... Former Aztec Milan Moses (2015-16) leads the Toreros with two goals and five points... Amber Michel has started all five games in net and owns a GAA of 0.96 with 29 saves.
W. Soccer Ready for Cross-Town Game at USD
