SAN DIEGO – No. 24 San Diego State defeated Wyoming, 5-2, Friday night at SDSU Sports Deck to break a first-place tie between the two teams. With the win, the Aztecs improve to 13-3-1 and 8-1 in the Mountain West, while the Cowgirls fall to 9-7-1 and 7-2 in league play.

 

“We’re really pleased with the result and to get five goals in a championship-type match is good for us,” SDSU head coach Mike Friesen said. “We got a lot of people playing time and got a little bit of rest so we can go play Colorado State on Sunday.

 

“We created a little momentum heading into the MW tournament with the win so that was good, too,” Friesen added. “We did it in tough conditions in terms of the style of play. It was a difficult game for us in terms of how direct they were, but I thought we did a good job, especially in the second half, putting the ball on the ground and playing our style, which created a lot of opportunities.”

 

San Diego State and Wyoming played a scoreless 20 minutes to open the game with the Aztecs creating a handful of opportunities for itself. One of their opportunities unfolded in the 21^st minute when freshman Aliyah Utush beat her defender down the right sideline and centered it to Hannah Keane. The senior then sent a diagonal laser into the lower left corner past Cowgirl goalkeeper Alex Boehm. The goal was Keane’s fifth of the season and the assist was Utush’s second.

 

Immediately after the Keane goal, freshman Angela Mitchell entered the game and nearly doubled the Aztecs advantage just over two minutes later. The Corona native put her shot in almost the same spot as Keane, but this time Boehm was able to push the ball out of harm’s way with a diving save to her right.

 

Following Mitchell’s dangerous chance, Wyoming flipped its switch and began pressuring San Diego State offensively. The effort flustered the Aztecs’ defense and proved fruitful in the 31^st minute when SDSU was unable to clear a ball off a corner kick, which resulted in Candance Sciberras’ goal from 15 yards out. The equalizer, which found the lower right corner, was assisted by Alisha Bass.

 

As the half was coming to a close, San Diego State received a bit of good fortune when Mitchell took the ball to the end line and tried to center it to Utush. A Wyoming defender, however, put a foot on it in a clearing attempt, but the ball went the wrong way and clanged off the upper right V to give SDSU a 2-1 lead. The miscue was scored an own goal.

 

Sporting a 2-1 lead coming out of halftime, the Aztecs continued to look for more offense and they received it in the 54^th minute. Senior Haley Locker dribbled from just inside the midfield line and beat two Cowgirls down the left side of the pitch. Then from 10 yards out, the Ferndale, Washington, product put her shot past the sliding Boehm to record her second of the season.

 

Mitchell continued to make her presence felt, this time assisting on Kelsey Booth’s goal in the 62^nd minute, which gave the home side a 4-1 lead. On this sequence, Mitchell outran the Wyoming defender and put a shot right on target. Her shot, however, was so hard that Boehm was unable to corral the ball and Booth was there to knock in her team-leading seventh of the year.

 

Then just under four minutes later, Mitchell was on the attack again, but was taken down in the box to set up a penalty-kick attempt. Senior Katie Perry did not miss on her opportunity, tickling the twine for her fifth goal of the season and SDSU’s fifth goal of the game. For Mitchell, it was her fourth time being taken down in the box in 2014. All four occasions have resulted in Aztec goals.

 

Wyoming’s Alison Clarke later added a free-kick goal from 25 yards out in the 72^nd minute to provide the final margin.

 

San Diego State outshot the Cowgirls, 20-16, and attempted 14 in the second half alone. SDSU also finished with a 10-6 advantage in shots on goal and a 6-5 edge in corner kicks.

 

Individually, Perry shared game-high honors with Wyoming’s Kimmy Burbank after each attempted four shots. Keane, Mitchell and Sciberras, meanwhile, all recorded a game-high two shots on goal. Boehm led the goalkeepers with five stops. For the Aztecs, Melanie Vaughn made three saves in just under 70 minutes and Sophia Trujillo was credited with one stop in 20 minutes, 21 seconds.

 

The victory was SDSU’s 13^th of the season, which matches last year’s total when it posted a 13-7-2 record. The win also made sure the Aztecs did not drop consecutive conference home games in school history, a streak that now spans 126 games.

 

San Diego State travels to Fort Collins, Colorado, on Saturday to prep for Sunday’s game at Colorado State. A win will secure at least a share of the MW regular-season title. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m. MT/noon PT and the contest can be seen online at GoAztecs.com via the Mountain West Network.