Edward Lewis
SDSU Daily Aztec
SAN DIEGO (U-WIRE) – What can you do in seven hours and nine minutes?
You could get a good night’s sleep, earn a solid day’s wage or even drive to the Bay Area.
Apparently, you can also go four and a half soccer games without allowing a goal.
Freshman goalkeeper Aubree Southwick finally allowed a goal — her first in 429 minutes — as the San Diego State women’s soccer team lost to No. 14 Cal 2-0 on Sunday at the SDSU Sports Deck.
The last time Southwick had allowed a goal was Sept. 2 against Florida Atlantic, four minutes into the game. Her stellar play carried SDSU through a 2-0-1 record the next three contests, even though the squad only scored three times.
“To go 429 minutes on the schedule we’re playing right now is exceptional,” head coach Mike Friesen said. “But it’s not just Aubree. It’s Millie Allen, Ali Lokanc, the entire back line.”
But about 53 minutes into Sunday’s game, Cal forward Alex Morgan beat Southwick to end the streak. Midfielder Caroline Lea added an insurance goal with just minutes to go in the contest.
Still, Friesen came away pleased with the team’s performance.
“We had a very good game plan and frustrated them all game long,” Friesen said. “To play the schedule we have at the level we’re playing at is awesome. I couldn’t be more happy.”
While Friesen was satisfied with the game, the stats would disagree. Cal (5-1-0) outshot SDSU (2-2-2) 14 to three, including 12 shots on goal to none. The Aztecs didn’t record a shot in the second half. “We didn’t create a lot of shots because we weren’t going to get ourselves stretched out because such a talented team (like the Bears) can break us down,” Friesen said.
Senior co-captain and midfielder Jessica Girdner maintained that the lack of offense was all part of their plan.
“Our goal was to lay off and let them come to us and get our formation and our shape and work together as a team,” Girdner said. “The formation we played today was different than normal; we played a 4-5-1, which is only one forward; we were trying to move and work up as a team, and it just didn’t happen today.”
Despite the lack of offense, Friesen came away very pleased, though.
“I think it was one of the best performances we’ve had all year,” Friesen said. “It was almost exactly what we wanted out of the game; to be honest I couldn’t be more happy.”
The Aztecs have a short week as they kick off a four-game road trip. They head to San Jose State (0-3-2) for a 7 p.m. contest tomorrow at Spartan Stadium. SDSU then travels to UCSB (1-3-2) to take on Friesen’s former team at 6 p.m. Sunday at Harder Stadium.
“I still have a lot of family and friends in the area, and so it’s always fun to go back and see those people, and there’s still some girls on the UCSB team that I recruited and never coached,” Friesen said. “But at the same time it’s not about me, it’s about the team.”
