The San Diego State University football team didn’t fare too well in its second consecutive encounter against a former or current Pac-12 team after dropping a 31-10 non-conference match-up at Cal-Berkeley on Saturday to drop to 1-2 on the season.
Closer to home, the SDSU men’s ice hockey team rewarded a loud and vocal fan base at the Kroc Center Ice Arena Saturday night with a 6-1 interdivisional victory against Loyola Marymount University to face off the 2024-25 ACHA season with a very promising 1-0 mark.
The Aztecs handed new head coach Dean Wilson a win in his first game behind the bench to start off his SDSU coaching ca¬reer on a positive note.
“It feels fantastic,” said Wilson, a Granite Hills High School alumnus and San Diego County native. “We could have had a better second period. But other than that, the first period was good. The team came out in the third period after having a bad period and finished strong.
“We had nine guys in the wings, nine healthy scratches. I think it’s going to help push guys into the lineup and work harder in practice. I think this team has a lot of potential.”
SDSU, which competes at the ACHA Division 1 level, wasted little time in building a 3-0 advantage on a game-opening snipe by Cameron Ferraz and two follow-up shots by Brandon Grant. Marcus Kim supplied the assist on Ferraz’ ice-breaking goal while both of Grant’s tallies were unassisted.
All three goals came on rapid-fire, pinpoint shots.
The Lions, who compete at the ACHA Division 2 level, got one goal back at the 37-second mark of the second period on a cage rattler by returner Connor Kaczmarek. The Aztecs got that back on an unassisted goal by sophomore defenseman Braden Mayer (Eastlake) at 12:42.
The hosts led 4-1 at the end of the second period.
Ferraz notched the only two goals of the third period to complete his season-opening hat trick, scoring at 5:09 and 8:33. The Phoenix native led SDSU with 19 points (six goals, 13 assists) in his first season with the team in 2022-23. He’s off to three points after one game this season.
Grant (two goals) and Kim (two assists) both recorded two points in Saturday’s non-league contest.
Despite the Aztecs’ dominance in the goal department, the teams actually finished nearly identical in the shots department with SDSU holding a narrow 33-32 edge.
Aztec starter Brody Hsaio stopped 14 of 15 shots in his half of the game while Liam Dee stopped all 17 shots he faced in closing out the victory.
LMU netminder John Profaci stopped 27 of 33 shots.
The season-opening win featured a lot of positive vibes and was feisty enough to make it entertaining.
“Our new coaching staff has really been pushing pace, a lot faster all through practices and workouts,” Mayer said. “We’re a much more (well)-rounded team this year and it really showed in this game, taking it to them at full speed for as long we could, just wearing them down.
“Goals for this season are definitely to make playoffs, hoping to influence the league we’re in with ASU, University of Arizona. We’re stoked to have 18 home games, maybe 20. We want to keep winning, keep rolling.”
“Definitely better than last year,” Ferraz added. “We’re going to keep scoring and keep on getting better on the defensive end, which will lead to more wins.
“We’re way better than last year’s team. We’ve added more guys, we’re getting older, getting more chemistry. You couldn’t ask for more.”
SDSU returns to the ice against CSU-Northridge on Saturday, Sept. 21, at 8:30 p.m. at the Kroc Center.
Jordan Napier caught a 40-yard touchdown pass for SDSU against Cal, which built a 24-3 lead in the game.
