{"id":499936,"date":"2026-10-18T06:48:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T06:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/499936\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T06:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T06:48:08","slug":"aggies-draw-with-fresno-state-in-defensive-shootout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/499936\/","title":{"rendered":"Aggies draw with Fresno State in Defensive Shootout"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t on October 17, 2026 at 11:42 pm<\/p>\n<p>In their fifth Pac-12 game of the year, Utah State soccer would settle for a 0-0 draw against Fresno State University. The Aggies dominated statistically, taking 22 shots on the night while only allowing the Bulldogs to take two. Nonetheless, the Aggies were unable to get a shot into the back of the net as the clock hit zero.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Despite the Aggies not jumping ahead in the scoring department in the first half, they were still able to control the pace right from the outset of the game. The Aggies were able to apply pressure immediately, taking two shots on goal in the first five minutes of the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The pressure continued from there, as they would rack up 14 shots in the first half of the game alone, three more shots than they took in the entirety of last Sunday\u2019s matchup against Boise State.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Defensively, they were dominant as well, taming nearly any pressure that the Bulldogs developed. Fresno State was only able to muster one shot near the end of the half, which Ivy Nystrom was able to save.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Out of the half, the story appeared to have changed. The Bulldogs came out much more aggressive than in the first half, giving the Aggies some early pressure. The Aggie defense was able to prevent Fresno State from scoring. Despite Fresno State setting the early pace, the Aggies only allowed one shot in the entire second half.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The tide shifted again after a stop for an injury helped the Aggies reset. Following the break, the Aggies once again maintained possession and were able to keep the ball on Fresno State\u2019s half for the majority of the rest of the night.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI reassured them that you know, as long as there\u2019s time on the clock, we we have we have opportunities to create and finish chances,\u201d Martins said. \u201cI just wanted them to stay composed and be in control because I felt like as the game got later, we became a little bit frantic, and that doesn\u2019t help us because we don\u2019t train being frantic.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Despite the improved second-half offense, the Aggies still couldn\u2019t seem to find the goal. The Aggies were not able to create as many shots in the second half, but were still able to take eight. In addition, fouls from both teams continually stalled out offensive possessions.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>With the clock ticking down and still no score on the board for either team, the Aggies starting applying a lot of pressure on the Bulldogs. Six of the eight Aggie shots in the second half came within the last ten minutes of play.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For a moment, it seemed as though the Aggies had taken the lead after a goal in the 85th minute. The goal would be called back after review for offsides by the Aggies.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cObviously it\u2019s disappointing. I haven\u2019t gone back to review it yet. I\u2019m gonna gonna trust the official got it right,\u201d Martins said. \u201cIt\u2019s obviously it\u2019s a little bit heartbreaking because I thought we did enough to create at least one goal for us.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In the 86th minute, the Aggies once again had an opportunity to take the lead as Kunie Hirai was awarded a free kick, which missed high. The Aggies would take three more shots but none would find the goal.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI give credit and respect to Fresno State. They defended very well. They had a good game plan that made it hard for us. We did create chances that we didn\u2019t put away, and we did have moments where we turned the ball over, more unforced errors than than most games,\u201d Martins said. \u201cThat part was maybe a reflection on our preparation. Maybe we missed something, but certainly I thought we did enough to give ourselves a shot, and unfortunately today we weren\u2019t clinical enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>With the draw, the Aggies are now 4-0-1 in conference play. They still remain atop the conference standings with only three more games until the Pac-12 tournament.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/rory-mcneill_avatar-80x80.jpg\" itemprop=\"image\" alt=\"avatar\"\/>\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"author__bio\" itemprop=\"description\">Rory McNeill is a junior from Rocklin, California studying mechanical engineering. He loves Aggie sports, skiing, golf and writing music.<\/p>\n<p>                    <a href=\"https:\/\/usustatesman.com\/tsc-custodians-petition-for-changes-under-mismanagement\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>                                    Previous Article                                <\/p>\n<p>                                    TSC custodians petition for changes under &#8216;mismanagement&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>                    <\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n                    \u00a0\n                <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"on October 17, 2026 at 11:42 pm In their fifth Pac-12 game of the year, Utah State soccer&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":499937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-499936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/499937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}