The No. 25 Aztecs wrap up their season-opening five-game home stand on Friday against No. 5/13 Pepperdine.

Aug. 29, 2012

SDSU Women's Soccer Weekly Notes | Pepperdine Game Notes

SAN DIEGO --

Game Week Reset
No. 5/13 Pepperdine (3-0) at No. 25 San Diego State (4-0)
Friday, Aug. 31 | 7 p.m. PT | SDSU Sports Deck

Aztec Story Lines
- No. 25 San Diego State wraps up its season-opening five-game home stand on Friday when it takes on No. 5/13 Pepperdine. The non-conference contest with the Waves is scheduled for a 7 p.m. PT start at the SDSU Sports Deck. Admission is free.

- The Aztecs are ranked for the first time since Aug. 2011, when they were No. 22 in the Soccer America Women's Top-25 Poll. This is just the second time since 2009 that SDSU has been ranked. The same poll had them at No. 16 at the conclusion of the 2009 campaign.

- SDSU, which is also ranked No. 3 in the NSCAA Pacific Region poll, is coming off a successful week where it improved to 4-0 for the first time in 16 seasons and just the second occasion overall in program history. The Aztecs picked up a 1-0 victory against Saint Francis (Pa.) on Wednesday and then notched a 2-0 win against Seattle U on Friday.

- Since Mike Friesen took over as head coach in 2009, the Aztecs are 1-3-1 at home versus ranked opponents. San Diego State's last win against a ranked team was over No. 4 Portland in a contest held at the SDSU Sports Deck in August of last year. With a win on Friday, the Aztecs will pick up their second win against a top-5 ranked opponent during Friesen's tenure on Montezuma Mesa.

- Two different Aztecs scored goals last week as SDSU remained undefeated in its 2012 campaign. Sophomore Haley Locker tallied the game-winner against Saint Francis, while redshirt senior Tiffany Hurst and Locker notched goals in a victory over Seattle U.

- For her efforts last week, Locker garnered Mountain West Offensive Player of the Week accolades as well as being named CollegeSportsMadness.com MW Player of the Week. The Ferndale, Wash., native leads the Aztecs with three goals this season and that number is tied for first in the MW. Last season, it took SDSU's leading scorer Cat Walker five games to score three goals.

- Junior Carli Johnson, meanwhile, was tabbed MW Defensive Player of the Week after playing all 180 minutes last week and leading the defense to its third and fourth consecutive shutouts of the season. The Santa Rosa, Calif., native is just one of two Aztecs to have played all 374 minutes this season, with the other being goalkeeper Rachel Boaz.

- Speaking of Boaz, the redshirt sophomore is off to great start in 2012. Last week, she picked up MW Defensive Player of the Week honors and she was named to TopDrawerSoccer.com's Team of the Week on Monday. The Murrieta, Calif., native already has four shutouts this season. Last year, it took Boaz 12 games to accomplish the same feat. 

- The Aztecs have jumped out to a 5-0 start only one other time in school history. The last time was 1996, when SDSU finished 16-7 overall and 4-1 in Western Athletic Conference play.

- SDSU, which jumped up four spots to No. 32 in TopDrawerSoccer.com's field of 64, enter Friday's match with Pepperdine having not faced the Waves since 2006. That season, Pepperdine earned a close 1-0 decision in a contest held in Malibu, Calif. The last time the two teams faced off in San Diego was 2001 and the Waves earned a 3-1 victory.

Opposition Notebook
Pepperdine
Pepperdine is 3-0 on the season and is coming off of two victories last weekend against Auburn (2-1) and Pacific (3-2)... The Waves defeated San Diego, 4-2, in their season opener... Pepperdine was picked to finish second in the West Coast Conference preseason poll... The Waves also had three players named to the preseason all-WCC team... Those players include goalkeeper Roxanne Barker, defender Michelle Pao and forward Lynn Williams... Barker represented South Africa in the 2012 London Olymics after finishing the 2011 season with an impressive record of 15-2-4 along with nine shutouts... In 2011, Pao started all 21 games as a defender and added two goals and five assists... Williams, meanwhile, was named the 2011 WCC Newcomer of the Year after she tallied six goals and eight assists.