‘She wants that moment.’ Boise State soccer wins shootout in Mountain West semis
Ava de Leest laid out, fully extending to her left, and pulled the soccer ball to her chest.
The entire Boise State women’s soccer team came running to meet her in the grass.
The freshman goalkeeper made a pair of saves in a shootout to lift No. 1 Boise State to a victory over No. 4 San Diego State in the semifinals of the Mountain West Tournament on Wednesday at Boas Soccer Complex.
The two teams played to a 1-1 tie through 90 minutes of regulation and two 10-minute overtimes, with the Broncos eventually prevailing 3-2 on penalty kicks.
“There are players that want that moment, and there are players that are worried about that moment. She wants that moment,” Boise State coach Jim Thomas said. “She was probably hoping, with a couple of minutes to go, ‘I hope this goes to penalty kicks. I feel like I could get something going here.’
“She wants to be responsible. She does the work day in, day out, to be prepared for that moment. That is her job.”
De Leest, the newly crowned Mountain West Newcomer and Defensive Player of the Year, stopped two of the five shots she faced in the shootout and made six saves during 110 minutes of action against the Aztecs.
“I knew deep down, if we went to PKs, that this was going to be our game and that we were going to win,” de Leest said. “Just from the way we were practicing them in training, in the way that it was all going, I was kind of happy that it was going to PKs.”
Junior Cindy Conner, freshman Madie Donovan and junior Olivia Collins each made PKs in the shootout. Collins’ penalty kick gave Boise State a 3-2 lead after four rounds, then de Leest denied San Diego State senior Grace Goins to seal the win.
“It feels great just to know that that was the game-winning play, and just look up and see my team running at me is so special,” de Leest said. “The bond that I feel like I’ve created with these girls over the past few months is something that I’ll never take for granted.”
The game was tied 0-0 at the half after both teams had a goal revoked following a video review.
The Aztecs struck first, taking the lead in the 51st minute on a goal by redshirt freshman forward Alexis Leath.
Boise State then found the equalizer in the 67th when junior Asia Lawyer, a Centennial High grad, sprinted down the right side and fed redshirt senior forward Kenzie MacMillan with a cross in the box. MacMillan’s shot bounced off the right post, and sophomore midfielder Jillian Anderson corralled the rebound and buried the shot.
MacMillian’s assist was her ninth of the season, a Boise State single-season record.
“You can tell from the whole season, we don’t give up,” Anderson said. “So I think just continuing to fight and push and just find a way, however that would be.”
Last week, the Broncos became the first team to win back-to-back outright Mountain West titles since San Diego State did so in 2014-15. They also were the first Mountain West team to complete the regular season undefeated in conference play since San Diego State in 2012.
Now they’ll try for their first Mountain West Tournament championship — and NCAA Tournament berth — since 2019.
The Broncos (10-3-7) will play No. 3 Utah State (10-6-5) in the title match at 7 p.m. Saturday at Boas Soccer Complex. Boise State topped Utah State 3-0 on Oct. 30, its first win over the Aggies since 2021.
But the Aggies have knocked the Broncos out of the Mountain West Tournament the past two seasons, including a 2-1 win in last year’s title match.
“It’s a tight game. It always will be with them,” Thomas said. “The biggest story is going to be who’s got what players available, and then we’ll be able to assess a game plan to try and take some of their possession away, similar to San Diego State. You start letting them knock the ball, and you’re going to be in trouble.
“It’s a very similar story with Utah State. If we let them control the game, we’ll be in a pickle.”
This story was originally published November 5, 2025 at 11:45 PM.
