SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State women's soccer team heads out on its final regular season road trip with a pair of games in Northern California. The first stop is Thursday, Oct. 14, in Fresno to face the Fresno State Bulldogs and concludes on Sunday, Oct. 17, in San Jose to take on the San Jose State Spartans.
NEXT UP
San Diego State (6-8-0, 4-2-0 MW) at Fresno State (6-4-3, 4-1-1 MW)
Thursday, Oct. 14 | 7 p.m. (PT) | Fresno State Soccer Stadium | Fresno, Calif.
Mountain West Network / Live Stats
San Diego State (6-8-0, 4-2-0 MW) at San Jose State (6-8-0, 3-3-0 MW)
Sunday, Oct. 17 | 12 p.m. (PT) | Spartan Soccer Complex | San Jose, Calif.
Mountain West Network / Live Stats
AZTEC NOTES
After splitting last weekend's games, a 1-0 win at UNLV and a 2-3 decision at Nevada, the San Diego State women's soccer team heads to northern California for its final two regular season road games, starting at Fresno State on Thursday evening and then at San Jose State on Sunday afternoon.
Sophomore keeper Alexa Madueno (So. GK, Woodland, Calif.) has earned two Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week honors this season. She enters this week leading the MW in shutouts (6), saves (72), and saves per game (5.14), and ranks nationally No. 20, 28 and 70 in those categories, respectively.
Freshman striker Denise Castro (Fr., MF, San Ysidro, Calif.) leads the 2021 Aztecs with eight goals. Since the 2000 season, her eight tallies rank No. T-3 on the program's freshman goals list (a list of the top five is on the bottom of page 2). The San Diego State record for freshman scoring is shared by Leah Pruitt and Mia Root, who scored 10 goals in 2015 and 2017, respectively.
After battling to get healthy for most of the season, Anna Toohey (Sr., F. Winston-Salem, N.C.) may be returning to the form that earned her MW Newcomer of the Year last season. In the last three matches, Toohey has scored twice, including the overtime game winner at UNLV and assisted on another at Nevada.
Laura Fuentes (Sr., MF, Newark, Calif.), a 2020 United Soccer Coaches second-team All-Pacific Region and first-team All-MW performer is third on the side with 15 shots, five shots on goals, one goal, two assists & four points in a team-high 1,232 minutes. Fuentes had the lone goal in a 1-0 decision against Army West Point (8/19). The tally came on a penalty kick, the fourth PK of her career and her fourth career game winner. She has never missed a contest and has earned a starting assignment in each of her 64 career games.
Alexys Ocampo (Fr., F/MF, Upland, Calif.) has produced six shots, put three on frame, and opened her collegiate account with the game-winning goal at Colorado State (9/24), in a 1-0 victory. She has played a total of 324 minutes and is the second leading scorer among Aztec freshmen.
Daniela Filipovic (Sr., MF, Laguna Hills, Calif.), who recorded the first point of her career on an assist last season, is back in 2021 having opted to utilize the extra year of eligibility offered by the NCAA due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Filipovic produced her first shot of the campaign in the Pepperdine game (8/22), and tallied her first point of the year assisting on the Elve goal at Wyoming (9/26). In 883 minutes in 12 starts and 13 overall appearances she has produced five shots. Filipovic's minutes and starts are both career-highs.
Emma Gaines-Ramos (So., F, San Diego, Calif.) has produced 19 shots (eight in the last four games), putting 11 on frame, in 852 minutes. Gaines-Ramos, a first-team All-Mountain West honoree last season after producing three assists in league play, the second most by an Aztec true freshman in the last five years, scored the first goal of her career, the game winner against Utah State (10/3). She has started in 24-of-25 games of her college career and her shots, shots on goal and minutes are career-bests.
San Diego State's winning record after six games (4-2-0) is nothing new under 15th year head coach Mike Friesen. In the team's 14 previous seasons under his guidance, in which it has posted a winning record after six games, it has gone on to a winning record in Mountain West action 12 times and earned 10 Mountain West titles (five regular season & 5 tournament crowns). When the Aztecs started a league slate with a winning record after six games, it went on to compile an 86-23-11 mark in those 12 conference seasons.
The series against Fresno State began in 1995 and has the Aztecs owning a 14-4-2 record against the Bulldogs. In games played in Fresno, SDSU is 3-4-1. The last meeting, on the Bulldogs home field (March 14, 2021), resulted in a 1-2 loss for the Aztecs. In its last three games in the central valley, the Aztecs are 0-2-1. The team's last win at Fresno State was a 4-2 decision on Sept. 28, 2014.
San Jose State and San Diego State have met 18 times since the series began in the 1994 season, and the Aztecs hold a 14-2-2 advantage in the all-time series. In games played in San Jose, San Diego State has posted a 5-2-0 mark, and in the last meeting on the Spartans home field, on March 12, 2021, junior striker Rachelle Elve picked up the 12th hat trick in program history in a 6-1 victory.
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