Caldwell High grad ties record as Boise State upends San Diego State in quarterfinals
The soccer ball bounced like a pinball from one player to the next in front of the goal for what must have felt like an eternity for Boise State goalkeeper Sydney Smith.
After Smith initially knocked away Kiera Utush’s free kick, the Broncos couldn’t fully clear the ball, resulting in wild chaos inside the penalty box as San Diego State tried desperately for the equalizer in the waning minutes.
Smith eventually fell on the ball, preserving sixth-seeded Boise State’s 1-0 victory over No. 3 San Diego State in the Mountain West Tournament quarterfinals Monday at Boas Soccer Complex.
The Broncos (11-6-3) will face No. 2 Fresno State (9-6-3) at 2 p.m. Thursday in the semifinals. The 11 a.m. semifinal features No. 1 New Mexico (12-4-2) and No. 4 Utah State (13-5-3).
Thursday’s winners play for the tournament championship — and an NCAA Tournament ticket — at noon Saturday.
All matches will be streamed live on the Mountain West Network, which is available at themw.com/watch.
“I just tried not to lose the ball or lose focus on what we were trying to do today,” said Smith, who tied her season high with five saves. “Luckily, it popped right into my hands. So that was really squirrely there at the end, but I’m glad that we came out with the shutout.”
It was the 18th clean sheet of Smith’s career, tying her for the most shutouts in program history with Janelle Flores, who had 18 for the Broncos from 2014-17. Smith, a Caldwell High graduate, already owns the best goals-against average in program history, at 0.84, and would take over the top spot for save percentage if the season ended today, at 0.797.
“Sydney is one of the best players of all time,” Boise State coach Jim Thomas said. “There’s so much emotion out there, and you need cool, calm and collected people. Sydney is about as calm as they get. To make the plays like she did there at the end was really special. I’m happy for her, she deserves the record.”
San Diego State (7-11-2) entered the match with a 4-0-0 record and an 11-0 goal advantage when playing as the tournament’s No. 3 seed in the quarterfinals. One Boise State goal erased both marks of perfection.
The Broncos were on the attack early, getting off the first four shots of the match, three of which came from the foot of fifth-year senior forward Aubree Chatterton.
Boise State broke through in the 23rd minute when midfielder Morgan Stone fired a shot that bounced off the crossbar and fell in front of a crashing Morgan Miles, who knocked the ball from the air with a header and booted it past SDSU keeper Alexa Madueno just inside the far post.
Miles’ goal was her second of the season and third of her career.
“Coach is always talking about doing anything you can to get it in, and it literally hit my face and went off my foot,” Miles said. “Basically I just tried to do everything I could to get it in, and it went in. Coach says all the time if you do the little right things, like as simple as just get to the back post, that’s all. You don’t have to win the ball, just get there and opportunities like that will come. And it came today, so that’s awesome.”
Added Stone: “As long as it gets in, that’s all that matters, right?”
The second half featured four yellow cards — all against the Broncos — and one red card for San Diego State in the 51st minute that forced the Aztecs to finish the game with 10 players.
Despite being down a player, the Aztecs came dangerously close to scoring several times in the second half.
“It’s just as harrowing for everybody else, you know, the players and the coaches, it’s no different,” Thomas said. “But I think that the one difference is that we’ve been in those moments all year, and we’ve dropped games on ‘em. We’ve got poignant context in those moments. So our players acted different.
“There was a different urgency in the way that we were marking players. There was a greater attention to detail.”
The Broncos know that attention to detail will be essential again Thursday against the Bulldogs, a team Boise State beat 2-1 in Boise on Oct. 10. Chatterton — who ranks tied for eighth in program history with 16 career goals — and redshirt freshman Alexis Haws scored in the win.
“It’s one of those things where you get to come home and it’s like playing with 12 men or they’re already down to 10. It is a real advantage, but it’s not going to be the difference maker,” Thomas said. “The difference maker is going to be who finds goals. And they have a wonderful player, Fresno State, in (Kassandra) Ceja, and they’ve got some great pace.
“They’re good on set pieces. They’re built for these kinds of games. And they’ve got a chip on their shoulder against us, for us beating them, so it will be a really, really difficult game.”
This story was originally published November 1, 2021 at 8:54 PM.
