The No. 17/25/18 San Diego State women's soccer team used two goals from senior Megan Jurado as it picked up a 3-1 victory against UC Santa Barbara on Sunday afternoon at Meredith Field.  With the win, the Aztecs improve to 9-1-1 and the Gauchos drop to 3-6-1 this season.

Jurado tallied the game-winning goal for SDSU at the 33:06 mark after having scored in the 28th minute. She now has five game-winners in 2012 and seven overall goals on the season. Freshman Victoria Barba also tallied her first collegiate goal late in the second half to round out the scoring for the Aztecs.

SDSU jumped out to a dominating start against UCSB, looking just as it did in the second half against UC Irvine on Friday. The Aztecs notched their first shot at the 0:44 mark when sophomore Hannah Keane watched a shot miss high. Keane and redshirt senior Tiffany Hurst would then tally consecutive attempts before SDSU had its first scoring opportunity in the 16th minute on a shot by junior Carli Johnson that required a save from Gaucho goalkeeper Makenna Henry.

The Aztecs continued their offensive onslaught as they tallied another two shots before junior Haley Palmer had her attempt at the 19:33 mark just miss as Henry saved it. SDSU wasn’t done though as Jensen Skinner fired a shot about 30 seconds later, but the junior’s attempt hit the crossbar. Barba gathered the rebound and took a shot in the 20th minute that required yet another save from Henry.

San Diego State then found the back of the net when Jurado took a pass from Skinner and tucked the ball inside the left post for a 1-0 lead. With the momentum in their favor, the Aztecs gave themselves some breathing room after Jurado took a ball that was deflected by a defender and buried it into the left corner to give SDSU a comfortable 2-0 lead.

UCSB, meanwhile, finally connected on a shot attempt in the 39th minute and made it count. The Gauchos were successful on a counter attack goal as Sara Feder cut San Diego State’s lead to 2-1. The Aztecs were in control after one half though, as they outshot the Gauchos by a 12-2 margin.

Early on in the second half, UCSB and SDSU went back and forth with a couple of attempts. That quickly changed though, as the Aztecs regained the momentum and went on a run with five consecutive shots.

San Diego State put the nail in the coffin in the 74th minute. The scoring play materialized when Jurado attempted a shot and had it blocked by a Gaucho defender. Barba managed to take the deflection and pound it home from 12 yards out for her first goal as an Aztec.

On the game, SDSU outshot the Gauchos by a 26-5 margin (11-2 in shots on goal) and had a number of shot attempts hit the crossbar. Redshirt sophomore Rachel Boaz played all 90 minutes in net and notched a save en route to her ninth win on the year.

The Aztecs will now return home to open Mountain West play on Friday against Nevada. The conference tilt is set for a 7 p.m. PT start at the SDSU Sports Deck.

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