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Friday, May 24, 2013

SDSU Women's Soccer Draws CS Northridge in First Round of NCAA Championships

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Category: Sports
Created on Wednesday, 07 November 2012 17:18
Written by Kix

San Diego, California - The fourth-ranked and Mountain West champion San Diego State women's soccer team begins its journey in the NCAA Championship this weekend as it plays host to Cal State Northridge. The first round matchup is set for a 7 p.m. PT start at SDSU Sports Deck.

  • SDSU’s No. 2 seed in the NCAA bracket is the highest ever in program history and for a Mountain West squad, surpassing No. 4 seeds received by former members BYU and Utah in the 2005 and 2006 NCAA tournaments, respectively.
  • The Aztecs are fresh off their second Mountain West tournament championship after defeating UNLV in the semifinals and then defeating New Mexico to earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. SDSU also won the regular-season crown after going undefeated in league play with an unblemished record of 7-0.
  • SDSU is now 19-1-1, which marks the best win percentage (.929) in the NCAA this season. The 19 wins also tie for the most in program history, matching the 1998 NCAA Tournament squad.
  • In the most recent Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), San Diego State leads the Mountain West with an RPI of 2. The only other MW teams in the top 100 are UNLV (71) and New Mexico (77). In the national rankings, the Aztecs moved up two spots to No. 4 in the final regular season National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll.
  • The Aztecs carry a season-long 13-game unbeaten streak into their first round NCAA Tournament contest, which is just three games shy of the program’s longest in a single season (2009). Even more impressive is SDSU’s current unblemished 12-0-0 mark at SDSU Sports Deck. At home, the Aztecs have tallied 10 shutouts and allowed just three goals.
  • On the season, Megan Jurado leads SDSU with 14 goals and nine assists for a team-high 37 points. The senior’s 14 goals and 37 points each rank second most in school history for a single season. In the NCAA rankings, Jurado is tied for fourth with seven game-winning goals this season. She is also tied for 11th in total points (37), T-14th in total goals (14), T-17th in points-per-game (1.76), T-24 in total assists (nine) and T-30 in goals-per-game (0.67).
  • On Monday, Jurado was named a 2012 first-team All-American by CollegeSportsMadness.com. The senior forward is just the second Aztec women's soccer player to garner All-America honors since Catherine McGuire earned similar accolades during the 1998 season.
  • The San Diego State defense has allowed just 11 goals in 2012, with just one coming in the second half or in overtime. A big part of that success is the stellar play of goalkeeper Rachel Boaz. The redshirt sophomore has a miniscule goals-against average of 0.49, which ranks sixth in the nation. The Murrieta, Calif., native has also tallied 10 shutouts this season and is just two away from setting the single-season record.
  • Boaz sits atop the league's leaderboard due to, in part, the cohesiveness and steady play of the Aztecs' starting backline of Haley Palmer, Kory Spotts, Carli Johnson and Rachael McGlinchy. Johnson has played 1906 of the total 1925 minutes this season. In the last 630 minutes of action, meanwhile, McGlinchy (609), Spotts (603) and Palmer (578) have all logged consistent minutes.