Sports

Aztecs maul Arizona Wildcats 38-14

by Jayden Hanzy

CONTRIBUTOR

After an explosive start, San Diego State football were able to crush the Pac-12’s Arizona Wildcats at Arizona Stadium. With a heavy dose of run game, the Aztecs (2-0) were dominant over the Wildcats (0-2) all game in a 38-14 victory.

Following a game where he recorded his career high in rushing yards, senior running back Greg Bell exploded for another big running game. Bell had 125 yards on only 17 carries and set the tone with a 55-yard rushing touchdown on the second play of the game.

Other rushers such as senior running backs Chance Bell and Kaegun Williams also provided valuable yards which gave the Aztecs 271 total rushing yards on the night.

After the game, Bell credited a lot of his success to his offensive line.

“My O-line looked great tonight,” Bell said. “They looked great last week. They opened up a lot of holes tonight and we got the victory.”

Led by the team’s commanding rushing attack, the Aztecs were able to put up 35 points in the first half. Just like the running game, the team was also able to be explosive through the air as well.

Quarterback Jordan Brookshire — who seemed much more confident than last game — went 10 for 15 for 183 yards and two touchdowns, while spreading the field for the Aztecs. Brookshire connected with his tight end Daniel Bellinger three times for 113 yards, including a 25-yard touchdown.

When asked about how he was able to improve his game from last week with New Mexico State, Brookshire explained further.

“I think it’s more getting comfortable and being prepared for the game,” Brookside said. “Not that I wasn’t prepared for last week’s game, but I just felt more confident in this week’s game. I got a lot of supporters behind me saying pick it up. Having a lot of people with you backing you up makes it a lot easier.”

Not only did the Aztecs excel on offense, but they also did great work on the defensive side of the ball. The Aztecs defense only allowed seven points to a talented Wildcat offense.

SDSU shut down the run by allowing only 49 rushing yards the whole day while the front seven got to the quarterback with ease. They put constant pressure on redshirt freshman quarterback Gunner Cruz, making him uncomfortable in the pocket. This resulted in the Aztecs secondary playing with confidence. Junior safety Patrick McMorris snagged his first career interception in the third quarter and was able to return it 16-yards

While the Aztecs improved how they started the game from last week, they were unable to do much offensively in the second half. The team’s defense did a great job of maintaining control of the Wildcat’s offense, but the Aztecs must do a better job of keeping their foot on the throttle. Head coach Brady Hoke says he was pleased with what he saw in the first half, but would have liked to have seen more in the last half of the game.

“We played well for the first half, and didn’t quite match where we needed to be in the second half,” Hoke said. “A week ago, we played well in the second half and this week we played well in the first. We have to put a game together.”

While the Aztecs improved how they started the game from last week, they were unable to do much offensively in the second half. The team’s defense did a great job of maintaining control of the Wildcat’s offense, but the Aztecs must do a better job of keeping their foot on the throttle.

Alongside the team’s strong game on both sides of the ball, the Aztecs special teams also were outstanding. Junior Tyrell Shavers returned a blocked punt for a touchdown in the first quarter, which helped set the tone for the rest of the game.

After defeating a Pac-12 team, the Aztecs will hope to do the same thing next week against the Utah Utes (1-1), The Utes are coming off of a tough loss to BYU and the Atztecs will look to go 2-0 in their temporary home stadium in Carson, California and 3-0 on the season.

The team finished the game with eight penalties, giving up 84 free yards because of it. This is unacceptable if the Aztecs want to uphold their success and remain one of the best teams in the Mountain West Conference.

“Speaking of discipline, I really need to have a good talk with our football team because we had too many penalties,” Hoke said. “We have to respond better at times, but from that standpoint we will take care of that and move forward.”

Through a good week of practice, the Aztecs will hope to clean up their mistakes and record their second straight win against a Pac-12 team.

SDSU’s heads into their week three matchup versus Utah with a 2-0 record.

Photo by Noelani Sapla

Volleyball battles, falls to two Top-25 teams

by daniela RamiRez

CONTRIBUTOR

San Diego State women’s volleyball is hopeful their early-season struggles won’t define the rest of their season. The Aztecs had two losses against UCLA 3-0 (17-25, 18-25. 13-25) and USD 1-3 (25-20, 2025, 20-25, 18-25).

The Scarlet and Black competed with ranked universities in the top 25 during 9/11 weekend.

In honor of those who lost their lives on Sep. 11, 2001 a moment of silence was held before the first serve.

For the past month, the Aztecs (17) have been competing against heavy competition with teams in the top rankings in college volleyball.

UCLA (5-1, No. 19 AP poll) and USD (5-2, No. 21 AP poll) are non-conference opponents. Head coach Brent Hilliard said he felt good about how his athletes performed the past weekend against two of the top 25 teams in the country.

Despite back-to-back losses over the weekend, the players still have a growth mindset and are prepared mentally for their first conference match on Sept. 23 against Nevada.

Senior Victoria O’Sullivan is one of few players who has been on the team since her freshman year. The team consists of new players and they’ve only been practicing together for two months.

A new group of athletes comes with its benefits. O’Sullivan says this team has a lot of potential.

“This year’s team has the most talent I’ve seen,” O’Sullivan said.

O’Sullivan also said she’s starting to get acclimated with her new teammates resulting in better communication on the court.

Coach Hilliard is confident going into the conference. He said his athletes have great attitudes and they use this as a learning experience to get better, despite not seeing much success on game night.

Aztec volleyball can keep up with the NCAA ranking teams. On Sept. 4, the Aztecs fell just short in a game against Pepperdine University, currently ranked No. 24 in the AP Poll.

With a score of 25-18 in the fourth set, Aztecs were still competing well against Pepperdine. The team was just points away from beating most of the teams they competed against in the pre-season.

Having the experience to go head to head with ranked teams should give the Aztecs an edge when it comes to the schools in the Mountain West Conference.

The next home game will be held on Sept. 30 against New Mexico.

Photos by Andrew Finley (Top left) Senior Noa Miller sets up to serve against USD. (Right) Senior leader Victoria O’Sullivan spikes the ball against USD. The Aztecs would lose that match 3-1.

Back on track: women’s soccer snaps losing streak with a win over Toreros

by moRgan PRickett

CONTRIBUTOR

The San Diego State Aztecs (2-5-0) defeated the University of San Diego Toreros (4-2-0) 3-0 Friday night on the back of freshman Denise Castro’s hat trick.

After suffering defeat in their last five games, the Aztecs came into Torero Stadium looking to bounce back with a strong performance, and bounce back they did.

SDSU’s previous matchup against USD took place in September 2019 when a 78th minute goal gave the Toreros a 1-0 victory.

The Toreros started the game on the front foot and looked to be the more dangerous side.

The first shot of the game came in just the second minute when junior Aztec defender Kiera Utush fouled USD junior defender Malia Walencewicz 25-yards out from goal. USD senior midfielder Micheala Foster stepped up to take the freekick but placed it just wide of the left post.

About 15 minutes into the first half, the Aztecs started to come out of their shell.

“We settled in and started to play,” said head coach Mike Friesen. “Early we were playing a lot of longer balls, not trusting that we could connect passes underneath. Once we realized we could connect and play, it tilted the game the other way.”

Sophomore Emma Gaines-Ramos and senior Anna Toohey looked by far the most influential players for the Aztecs in the first half with multiple darting runs in the opponent’s half. The Aztecs first shot of the game came through Gaines-Ramos as she watched her shot deflect off the defender and hit the crossbar in the 24th minute.

Thirty minutes into the first half, the first goal was scored as Toohey played the ball to Castro who took a couple touches to get the ball out of her feet, then ruthlessly smashed the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal.

The second goal of the game didn’t come too long after.

In the 35th minute, senior Lauren Dicus ran down the right wing and whipped a ball into the feet of Castro. Castro did a brilliant job controlling and turning with the ball as she then squeezed her shot through both the narrowest of angles and the keeper’s legs to give the Aztecs a 2-0 lead.

The second half would start the same way the first half ended, with the Aztecs on the front foot pushing for more goals.

Castro would complete her hat trick in the 55th minute with a half volley off her left foot, onto the left post, and into the back of the net. Toohey claimed her second assist of the game as well, as her beautiful one time cross allowed Castro to complete her hat trick.

Toohey says she’s seeing a lot of improvement from Castro every week.

“She’s been getting better every single game, her touch was so good today,” Toohey said. “She’s one of those super dynamic forwards that isn’t just looking to take it herself.”

Although the Aztecs only took seven shots in comparison to the 14 shots by the Toreros. The Aztecs’ front three would cause problems for the Terero’s back line throughout the night.

Not only was the Aztecs’ offense clicking on all corners tonight but so was their defense. Center backs Utush and junior Claire Watkins had a solid game on defense, making solid tackles and forcing bad shots from the Toreros all night.

“Our defence was much improved, we’re starting to do the little things better. Over the last 3 or 4 weeks we’ve had to learn through trial by fire not to make small mistakes in big moments,” Friesen said.

“This game we had a lot of grit and determination, we wanted to prove to ourselves that we could win a game and keep a shutout,” Utush said.

The Aztecs were also reassured knowing they have a keeper such as Alexa Madueno in goal. Madueno added 5 more saves tonight to bring her season tally to 49 saves.

“I love Alexa; she keeps me in the game, always has my back, and I know she’s a player I can trust,” Utush said.

The Aztecs are back in action against UCLA at the SDSU Sports Deck on Sunday, Sept. 19, at 6 p.m.

Photo courtasy of San Diego State Athletics

Freshman Denise Castro dribbling the ball down field versus Army.

Men’s golf has historic final day at Maui Jim Intercollegiate

by nick coPPo

CONTRIBUTOR

The Aztecs kicked off their 2021 season at the Mirabel Golf Club in Scottsdale, AZ at the Maui Jim Intercollegiate Tournament. It was a competitive field that involved six Top 30 teams, according to the Golfweek rankings.

These teams include Clemson (11), Georgia Tech (12), Washington (21), San Diego State (23), New Mexico (29) and Auburn (30).

It was a very impressive start to the season for the Aztecs with a final round score on Sunday of 16-under 264 — the lowest round in program history. This performance vaulted the Aztecs from sixth place to fourth place. That score of 264 was tied with Auburn for the best round of the day and tied for the second best round of the entire tournament. The team was able to take advantage of the Par-5 holes all weekend, shooting -19 on those holes in particular — third-best only behind Georgia Tech and Clemson — the first and second place teams at the tournament overall.

The most notable performance and story comes from Senior Youssef Guezzale who finished the weekend in a tie for 12th place in a field of 90 golfers at -10 after a sensational round on Sunday, including seven birdies and an eagle on the second hole. His 6-under 64 on Sunday was tied for the second best round of the day and the seventh-best round in SDSU program history.

“Hear that, seventh best round in history guys!” Guezzale said as he let his teammates know of the history he just made.

“I came out guns blazing,” Guezzale said when asked about his mindset going into the final day. “I knew I had to go low and that’s exactly what I did.”

Of the seven birdies Guezzale had on the day, six of them came on Par 4s, meaning strong drives into an advantageous part of the fairway was key to a low score.

“In these desert courses there is not much room to hit off line, but I was able to stay out of the desert. Keep it in the fairway and you can go low.” Guezzale said.

Head Coach Ryan Donovan had each golfer ready to compete in Scottsdale and assessed the first weekend of play.

“I’m pleased with the first weekend, obviously we have a lot of returning talent so it’s good to back that up,” Donovan said. “The bar is set high. We are playing against some good competition, we need to clean up a few things and we can’t make those little mistakes.”

Rounds of 274 and 272 on Friday and Saturday had the Aztecs sitting in sixth place going into the final day.

“I was disappointed with a few mistakes,” Donovan said reflecting on the first two rounds of play. “Let’s go out and put up the best round we could have.”

The Aztecs clearly took Coach Donovan’s words to heart as four out of the five players shot their lowest score of the tournament on Sunday.

Another promising performance from the weekend came from freshman Shea Lague shooting a six-under 204 in his first ever collegiate tournament. Lague saved his best golf for last as four consecutive birdies on holes 15-18 shot him up the leaderboard into a tie for 19th and a final round score of 65.

Donovan says that Lague stood out this weekend.

“I was really impressed with Shea,” Donovan said. “In his first college tournament, I’m really proud of what he has done and there is lots of room for him to be a great player down the road.”

Shea Lague (T19th) and University of Arizona’s Sam Sommerhauser (T6th) were the only two freshmen in the Top 20.

Finishing third on the team and in a tie for 24th overall at 5-under was Senior Zihao Jin. Jin was a pillar of consistency with three day scores of 68-69-68 which included fifteen consecutive pars in the final round on Sunday. His 40 total pars this weekend is tied for the third most out of any golfer in the field. Jin was also the only Aztec without a bogey or doublebogey on the final day of the tournament.

Senior, Puwit Anupansuebsai — a Golfweek Preseason All-American ThirdTeam selection — came in 31st overall at 4-under and was another one that used a strong final round to improve his and the team’s score on Sunday. Similar to Lague, Anupansuebsai caught fire in the back nine recording birdies on holes 12, 15, 16 and 18 en route to a 3-under 67 for the day.

Senior Steve Sugimoto finished his weekend tied for 47th at 1-under. Sugimoto played his best golf on Saturday shooting a 4-under 66 that included seven birdies. Unfortunately, trouble was afoot at the start of round three for Sugimoto as he took a triple bogey on the first hole which he had birdied a day prior. He was able to improve his day with an impressive back nine however with three birdies and six pars.

Freshman Jack Townsend competed in this tournament but as an individual so his strokes did not factor into the overall team score. Townsend took 89th at 16-over for a total of 226. After a rocky first day at 12over, Townsend was able to right the ship on Saturday with an even-par 70 and a 4-over 74 on Sunday.

After a promising first tournament, SDSU looks to build off this performance as they head to Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Washington for the Husky Invitational from Sept. 20 to Sept. 21. This is also the site of the Mountain West Championship in the spring of 2022. A strong showing here could bode well for future success come tournament time.