MEN'S SOCCER: Winless road trip

To say the San Diego State men’s soccer team hasn’t had great success in the Pacific Northwest would be a vast understatement.

So it wasn’t a great surprise this past weekend when SDSU went winless again playing its northern Pac-10 rivals. The Aztecs (3-8-3, in 1-3-3 Pac-10 play) lost 1-0 in overtime to Oregon State on Friday in Corvallis, Ore., and tied Washington 2-2 Sunday to further dampen a season that players and coaches thought could have been the program’s best.

“It’s just a tough trip as far as the travel goes,” assistant coach Matt Hall said of the road trip. “You can never get settled. You can’t get into a routine up there, and on top of that, they’re good teams.”

Goalkeeper Jorge Rosales expressed similar sentiments about the difficult travel conditions.

“The back-to-back traveling is tough,” he said. “In previous years with the rain and the cold weather it can be a factor. None of us really look forward to this trip.”

Although it didn’t rain this weekend, temperatures for both games were in the 50s and SDSU’s midfield seemed to lock up. Going into the games, the Aztecs had been leading the Pac-10 in shot attempts, but were outshot this weekend by a combined 33-19.

“I’d say Oregon State did a very good job and controlled most of that game (Friday),” Hall said. “(Sunday) was a very even match, in my opinion.”

The direct result of those shots created several chances for Rosales, who responded in a big way. The senior had a career-high 11 saves on Friday against the Beavers, and followed that up with seven saves against the second-place Huskies.

 “Jorge made some very good saves for us this weekend,” Hall said. “I’d say in the two games he made four very influential saves. The goals he gave up were not all his fault; they reflected all 11 players on the field.”

What might be even more alarming than the faltering defense in front of the goalkeepers is the team’s inability to close out tight games. SDSU is still winless in overtime games this year, sporting an unremarkable 0-3-3 record in extra time.

“I don’t know why that’s happening. Why is the sky blue?” a frustrated Hall said after Sunday’s overtime tie. “There are question marks everywhere. It’s been tough for us this year, and there are probably a million reasons that add up to us not getting the results.”

The team currently sits in fifth place out of six teams in the Pac-10 after wrapping up its road play for the season. The Aztecs clinched a losing season with the results this weekend, but still have a chance to finish .500 in Pac-10 play, with Stanford and California coming to town for games on Friday and Sunday.

The team has just one win at home all season, way back on Sept. 7 when the team trounced Albany 6-0.

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