Nick Cardenas Class: Sophomore Hometown: Thornton, Colo. High School: Horizon HS Height / Weight: 6-5 / 190 Position: Defender Experience: 1L

2006: Had one of the best freshman seasons in the nation ... Was a U.S. U-20 National Team Camp call-up in October ... Named to the first-team Top Drawer Soccer All-Rookie Team ... Also earned College Soccer News all-freshman honors ... Was selected to the NSCAA/adidas all-Far West second team ... Named the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year and also garnered all-Pac-10 second team accolades ... Started all 18 games he appeared in ... Scored six goals, tied with Kraig Chiles for most on the team ... His 12 points were the third-highest on the squad ... Scored all six goals on headers ... Had a goal on three shots (two on goal) in the Aztecs' season-opening 3-2 win over Albany on Aug. 25 ... Named to The Soccer Post/Aztec Classic all-tournament team for his efforts ... Tallied another goal in SDSU's 4-2 win versus UNLV on Sept. 9 ... Had great success against Pac-10 regular season champion California, as he scored the game-winning goal in the Aztecs' 2-0 win in Berkeley on Sept. 24 and added another tally in SDSU's 3-1 victory over the Bears in San Diego on Oct. 27 ... Followed that up with the lone goal in the Aztecs' 1-0 home win over Stanford (Oct. 29) and the game-tying tally at UCLA (Nov. 11) in the 1-1 double-overtime tie ... Was honored for his performance against California and Stanford, as the Aztecs swept the Bay Area teams at home in late October ... Was named the NSCAA/adidas National Player of the Week, the first time an SDSU player has received the award ... Also earned Soccer America Team of the Week, College Soccer News Team of the Week and Pac-10 Player of the Week accolades ... Played every minute in 16 of his 18 games he appeared in, including 15 of the first 15 contests he played ... SDSU was 5-0-1 when he scored a goal.

High School: Was the second-leading scorer in the state of Colorado as a senior with 27 goals ... Was an all-conference selection for the three years and all-state performer for two years ... Named to the Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post all-Colorado teams ... Played along with fellow Aztec recruit Evan Toft on the Colorado Rush club team.

Personal: Nicholas Alexander Cardenas was born Nov. 21, 1987, in Denver, Colo. ... Son of Arch Cardenas and Stephanie Kuhn ... Enjoys art and snowbarding ... Lists English soccer player Steven Gerrard as his favorite athlete ... Undecided on a major ... Chose San Diego State over the likes of New Mexico, Portland, North Carolina State, San Diego and Cincinnati.