SAN DIEGO – With three games to play in the regular season and finding itself in a tie for fourth place in the Mountain West standings, the San Diego State women's soccer team meets the Air Force Falcons and Colorado College Tigers at the SDSU Sports Deck this week, in a pair of games that will help determine seeding in next month's Mountain West tournament.
NEXT UP
San Diego State (6-9-1, 4-3-1 MW) vs. Air Force (6-7-2, 3-4-1 MW)
Thursday, Oct. 21 | 7 p.m. (PT) | SDSU Sports Deck | San Diego, Calif.
Live Stats
San Diego State (6-9-1, 4-3-1 MW) vs. Colorado College (3-9-3, 2-3-3 MW)
Sunday, Oct. 24 | 12 p.m. (PT) | SDSU Sports Deck | San Diego, Calif.
Mountain West Network / Live Stats
AZTEC NOTES
In its final weekend of home games in the 2021 regular-season, the San Diego State women's soccer team hosts the Air Force Falcons on Thursday evening and then Colorado College on Sunday afternoon.
With three games left in the regular season, the Aztecs have reached a critical juncture in the campaign. SDSU finds itself in a two-way tie for fourth place in the conference standings with 13 points and only the top six teams making the conference championship tournament in Boise, Idaho.
In his 15th campaign leading the Mountain West's most dominant women's soccer program, head coach Mike Friesen has guided his squad to ten Mountain West championships (five tournament and five regular season), and five NCAA Tournament appearances, each the most among any current league head coach. Now in his 15th season of conference play, Friesen has a 93-29-14 record. His 93 league victories are the most by any head coach in Mountain West history (the inaugural season of the MW was in 1999).
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) and saves per game (5.14), and is No. 2 in saves (72). Nationally she ranks No. 38, 69 and 56 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 four matches, Toohey has scored twice, including the overtime game winner at UNLV and assisted on another at Nevada.
San Diego State's winning record after six games (4-3-1) 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 eight 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 eight games, it went on to compile an 86-23-11 mark in those 12 conference seasons.
The series against Air Force began in 1993 and has the Aztecs owning a 22-1-1 record against the Falcons. In games played in San Diego, SDSU is 11-0-1 (10-0-1 on the Sports Deck). The last meeting, on the Sports Deck (Oct. 21, 2018), resulted in a 5-0 victory for the Aztecs. Since a 2-2 draw on Oct. 6, 2006, on the Sports Deck, the Aztecs have defeated Air Force six straight times on the Aztecs home field and have outscored the Falcons 22-3 in those six games.
Colorado College and San Diego State have met 11 times since the series began in the 1992 season, and the Aztecs hold a 6-2-3 advantage in the all-time series. In games played on the Aztecs home field, San Diego State has posted a 4-0-3 mark, and in the last meeting on the Sports Deck, on Oct. 19, 2018, resulted in a 1-1 draw. In the SDSU home wins against Colorado College, the Aztecs have outscored the Tigers 11-0.
PLAYER NOTES
Alexa Madueno (So., GK, Woodland, Calif.) played every minute of the team's first 14 games (1,262:16 minutes) and every minute of her college career (2,267:13 minutes) up to that point. At No. 13 Stanford (8/29), she established a career-high with 14 saves, two shy of the program's all-time single game record, and faced more shots (44) against the Cardinal than any Aztec keeper in since the 2016 season (Penn State took 29 shots against the Aztecs on Sept. 9, 2016). She has six clean sheets; against Army West Point (8/19), at San Diego (9/10), at Colorado State (9/24), vs. Boise State & vs. Utah State for a total of nine shutouts in 25 career collegiate games. So far this season, she is 6-8-0 with a 1.71 GAA and a .750 save percentage and six clean sheets. She leads the MW saves per game (5.14), shutouts (6), is second in total saves (72) and No. 6 in save percentage. Nationally, Madueno is No. 38 in shutouts, No. 57 in saves, No. 69 in saves per game, and No. 129 in keeper minutes.
Following her fourth and fifth clean sheet of the season, a pair of 2-0 wins against Boise State (10/1) & Utah State (10/3) , Madueno was named the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week for the week ending on Oct. 3. She faced 17 shots and turned away all five which reached her line. It was the second MW PotW honor for Madueno this season and the second of her career.
In 14 matches this season Madueno has recorded 72 saves, blowing past her total of 35 saves in 11 contests last season. She is averaging 5.14 saves per game in 2021.
Madueno went 8-3-0 last year, had a .714 save percentage (35-of-49) and surrendered 14 goals in 1,005 minutes (1.25 GAA). She was included on the Mountain West All-Newcomer team and was a second-team All-MW performer. Madueno is the first true freshman keeper to start every game in a season for SDSU since Aubree Southwick in 2007 and is the third keeper, and only true freshman, to play every minute in a season for the Aztecs since Stephanie Pearson in 2003. The only other keeper to start and play every minute in a season for San Diego State since 2003 was Brooke Lisowski in 2019.
Cameron Illingworth (So., GK, Santa Ana, Calif.) made her Aztec debut last weekend in a pair of double overtime games. She recorded her first career collegiate shutout at San Jose State (10/17) and lost on a 108th minute goal at Fresno State (10/14) after transferring from Kansas State after last year. In 217:20 she has a 0.41 GAA and a 0.917 save percentage.
Denise Castro (Fr., MF, San Ysidro, Calif.) in 15 appearances, 14 in a starting role, has played 1,131 minutes and produced a team-high 43 shots, 23 of which have been on frame which also leads the team, and has scored eight goals, including the 13th hat trick in program history, at San Diego (9/10). She is No. T-1 in the Mountain West in goals and is No. 5 in points (17).
Castro's hat trick provided all the scoring the Aztecs needed in a 3-0 decision at San Diego (9/10). The hat trick was the 13th in program history and the fourth by a freshman in the now 33-year history of the program. Her performance earned her Mountain West Freshman of the Week for the week of Sept. 6. Of the five hat tricks recorded by Mountain West players this season, she is one of only two by a freshman (also Mia Otero of AFA on 10/1). In addition, Castro is the 11th freshman to have recorded a hat trick in Mountain West history and was first since the 2016 season.
Castro missed the team's game against No. 3 UCLA because she was competing for the U-20 Mexican National Team in two international friendlies against The Netherlands in Oldenzaal, Holland. She is the first active Aztec women's soccer player to compete for a national team since the start of the Friesen era (2007-present). Castro started the first game in Holland, a 7-0 decision for The Netherlands, and played as a reserve in the second match, a 2-1 decision for Mexico. Castro returned to the team in time for its games at Colorado State (9/24) and Wyoming (9/26).
2020 Mountain West Newcomer of the Year and first-team All-Mountain West performer Anna Toohey (Sr., F, Winston-Salem, N.C.), has appeared in 15 games, starting 14 times, and playing 884 minutes. She led the team last year with six assists and picked up two more on two of Castro's three goals at San Diego (9/10) and another against Nevada (10/10) to once again pace the squad. The USD game marked the first time she has produced multiple assists in a game in her collegiate career and the first time the Aztecs have had a player with multiple assists in a game since Laura Fuentes had a pair in the Aztecs 6-1 victory at San Jose State on March 12, 2021. Toohey has produced ten shots with five on frame and scored her first goal of the season against Utah State (10/1) and followed that up with the game winner at UNLV (10/8). Toohey is 1-of-10 player in the MW with a multi-assist game this year.
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 66 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 430 minutes and is the second leading scorer among Aztec freshmen. Is one of three freshmen to appear in all 16 contests (also: Sarah Funk & Trinity Coker).
Rachelle Elve (Jr., F, Huntington Beach, Calif.) totaled 10 goals in 2019 & 2020, the highest total among returning Aztecs (Chloe Frisch, who graduated after the 2020 season, scored 11 goals in her last two campaigns). Elve entered this season as the Mountain West's top returning goal scorer from the last two seasons. At San Jose State (3/12/21), in the team's first foray away from home during the 2020 campaign, she tallied the program's 11th hat trick and the first since Aliyah Utush's trifecta vs. New Mexico on Nov. 4, 2017. Her first shot attempt this season, along with her first starting assignment, came at Stanford (8/29). She earned a starting nod vs. Washington State (9/2) and at Colorado State (9/24). Elve opened her season account at Wyoming (9/26) with a 32nd minute goal and then got the game winner in the sides 2-0 victory over Boise State (10/1). In 12 matches, she has produced four shots, putting them all on frame, with two goals in 407 minutes.
-SDSU-
Aztecs Host Air Force And Colorado College This Week
