The San Diego State men’s soccer team, which won the WAC regular season championship, now can only hope to earn an at-large bid to the NCAAs.
That’s because of their upset loss to San Jose State Wednesday in the semifinals of the WAC Tournament in Phoenix, in which they fell 3-2 – the first time SDSU had trailed against a conference opponent all year.
Midway through the Aztecs’ match against the Spartans they were sitting pretty, leading 2-0. But SDSU (10-5-3) gave up three unanswered goals to the Spartans (6-7-7) in a 17-minute span and failed to score again.
San Diego State entered Wednesday at No. 45 in the RPI and No. 56 in the Division 1 rankings. The NCAA will release at-large bids Monday – 26 teams are eligible, with 22 automatic qualifiers making up the rest of the field.
André Puente scores again! Aztecs take a 2-0 lead in the 51st minute after scoring on another corner kick. @AustinBrummet12 to Beto Apolinar to Puente. pic.twitter.com/YFcpMOcazT
— San Diego State Men's Soccer (@AztecMSoccer) November 14, 2024
The Aztecs got off to a fast start against the Spartans. Right after the kickoff, they earned a corner kick which set up their first goal. André Puente then headed in Austin Brummett’s corner 42 seconds into the match.
The Spartans settled in and didn’t allow a shot on goal for the rest of the first half, despite SDSU attempting seven corners in the opening 45 minutes.
Puente scored off another corner in the 51st minute with Brummett providing his fifth assist off a corner in the last six matches.
The Spartans got on the board 10 minutes later when Cameron Cook scored from the top of the box. It was the first goal the Aztecs had allowed in 482 minutes, a stretch spanning more than five matches.
San Jose State netted the equalizer less than three minutes later when Angel Iniguez scored from 20 yards out. In the 78th minute, Puente was whistled for his second yellow, which forced the Aztecs to play a man down. It also set up a free kick just outside the box and Iniguez scored to put the Spartans up 3-2.
The Aztecs were outshot 16-9 and their only shots on goal were their two scores. Prior to the match the Aztecs were 9-0-2 when scoring first.
