LOGAN, Utah - Utah State soccer hosted the top team in the Mountain West standings on Thursday, battling to a 0-0 draw with San Diego State at Chuck & Gloria Bell Field.
 
"I thought our team played really well. We had a game plan and the team executed really well," head coach Manny Martins said. "We kept them to two shots on goal for the whole game and both came in the first half so no shots on goal in the second half so I couldn't be prouder. Not only that but in the second half, we just pinned them back and got a lot of shots. (San Diego State's) a really good team so any time you can do that, it's a really good place to be late in the season going into, hopefully, the tournament."
 
The Aggies outshot the Aztecs 16-7 on the day, including a 7-2 edge in shots on goal. In the second half particularly, USU held the advantage for vast swaths of game play as the team tallied 10 total shots and five on goal while holding SDSU without a shot on target in the final 45 minutes of play.
 
"I thought that we came out really hard and we stuck to our game plan which was really good for us," junior Kylie Olsen said. "Our second half was amazing. We had a lot of opportunities. I think we had something to prove and with the way that we played today, we absolutely proved that. So I thought we had a great game today."
 
The Aggies built several scoring opportunities as the second half wore on. An attempt from Olsen at the top of the penalty area in the 70th minute required a diving save from Aztec goalkeeper, Alexa Madueno, to maintain the deadlock. A freekick attempt in the 85th minute from junior London Miller drew iron off the crossbar before heading behind the goal.
 
"It's everything that we put in off the field," Olsen said. "We scouted, we'd go to the meeting room and it's about just playing what we talked about. That's exactly what we did as we came out in the second half. We had our meeting at halftime and we came back out and did exactly what we were supposed to do."
 
USU generated six shots in the final 15 minutes but were unable to break the tie. Freshman goalkeeper McKenzie Hunninghake made two saves as she recorded her second consecutive shutout. 
 
"We're a team that trains to play 90 minutes," Martins said. "That's our mentality. I do think that in the first half, we didn't do a good enough job of taking care of the ball so we defended longer than we needed to. The girls did a fantastic job of executing the adjustments we made at halftime and that's what you saw in the second half was our ability to be on the front foot a little bit more, create more chances and pretty much pin them back for big chunks of the game."
 
With the draw, the Aggies moved into a tie for fourth place in the conference standings. USU currently leads by two points over seventh-place Colorado College, with the Tigers set to play at UNLV later tonight. Only the top six teams in the standings qualify for the Mountain West tournament. USU's path to the tournament does not lighten up, however, as the Aggies host New Mexico on Sunday. The Lobos claimed first place in the standings after a 2-0 win at Boise State on Thursday.
 
"San Diego State is a very good attacking team and New Mexico and Boise State are as well," Martins said. "So if there's a time for your defense to click, it's now… All through conference play and a little before, we haven't given up a lot of chances. We've just done a little better job of defending those few chances that teams are getting so I'm really proud of that."
 
Utah State (7-5-6, 4-3-2 MW) kicks off versus New Mexico (7-3-6, 5-1-3 MW) on Sunday at 1 p.m. (MT).
 
Fans can follow the Aggie soccer program on Twitter, @USUSoccer, on Facebook at /USUSoccer and on Instagram, @USUSoccer. Aggie fans can also follow the Utah State athletic program on Twitter, @USUAthletics, Facebook at /USUAthletics and on Instagram, @USUAthletics.
 
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