Metro Conference girls soccer has steadily raised its caliber of play over the past two decades and the results are now showing at the collegiate ranks.
San Diego State University’s women’s team features six South County prep alumni on this season’s roster. It’s time to take notice: four Metro alums started Sunday’s non-conference game against Eastern Washington University at the SDSU Sports Deck, all six eventually worked their way into the match.
The kicker: Five of the six were on the pitch at the same time in the first half. That’s nearly half of the team!
South County players figured prominently in the Lady Aztecs’ 4-2 win. San Ysidro High School alumna Denise Castro scored two goals while Otay Ranch High School alumna Emma Gaines-Ramos scored once. Castro also collected an assist.
Castro, a senior midfielder, tops the team with seven points (three goals, one assist) through seven games while Gaines-Ramos, a senior forward, ranks second with six points on three goals. Eastlake High School alumna Olivia Sekimoto, a senior midfielder, has three points on a goal and assist.
Castro has started all seven games and taken 29 shots while Gaines-Ramos has started all six games in which she has appeared with 13 shots. Sekimoto has started all seven games and taken 12 shots.
Castro and Sekimoto each have scored one game-winning goal this season.
Other South County players on the roster include freshman forward Mia Lane (Eastlake), junior midfielder Alyza Eckhardt (Bonita Vista) and junior forward Dori Savage (Mater Dei Catholic).
Eckhardt has started all seven games. Savage has started five games and taken seven shots while Lane has started one game and taken three shots.
Sunday’s win was much-needed for SDSU, which was picked to win this year’s Mountain West Conference championship but has gotten off to a rough start with a 2-4-1 record in those seven season-opening games. Included in a 0-4-1 stretch was a 1-1 draw against Weber State, a 3-1 loss to No. 2 Stanford, a 3-0 loss to No. 11 Oklahoma State and a 3-1 loss to No. 16 Texas.
The Lady Aztecs were coming off a 1-0 home field loss to regional rival UC San Diego the previous Thursday.
“We needed this win,” said Castro, an interdisciplinary studies major. “We were struggling with our early season schedule against some very good teams.”
The reigning Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Year, Castro ranked first in points per game last season, tied for second in both goals and assists. She led SDSU in scoring with 10 goals and six assists.
She earned first team all-conference honors as a sophomore while starting in all 20 of her appearances.
Prior to enrolling at SDSU, Castro competed for Albion SC from 15U to 18U and made an international splash as a member of the U15 and U17 Mexican national teams.
As a member of the CONCACAF Girls’ U15 Mexican Women’s National Team, she competed in friendlies against the United States, Russia, Portugal, North Korea, Canada, Ghana and Spain. As a 15-year-old member of Mexico’s U17 National Team, she played in friendlies against the United States, Columbia and England which allowed her to take part in the U17 World Cup. Mexico reached the final of the 2019 U17 World Cup during where she scored in the 29th minute in a 2-1 loss to Spain.
Castro said the Lady Aztecs have some unfinished business to attend to before nine players on the squad graduate this season.
“Last year we won conference (regular season title) and went to the conference championship tournament but left it unfinished,” she said. “We’re on a mission to get back to the conference tournament and win it this year.”
A First Team All-Mountain West selection in both 2020 and 2022 and a second team all-conference pick in 2023, Gaines-Ramos is competing this season while enrolled in graduate studies. As a senior last season, she started 19 of 20 matches and ranked third on the team with five goals and five assists. She led the Lady Aztecs with seven assists and ranked second in goals with six as a junior.
A four-year letter-winner at Otay Ranch, she helped lead the Lady Mustangs to the San Diego Section Division III championship in 2019-20 by recording two assists in a 3-2 victory over La Jolla Country Day. She was in the spotlight as well in 2018 by helping lead the Bonita Rebels, her club team to the U18 USYS national championship title.
She said she’s enjoyed playing alongside so many South County players on the current SDSU team.
“We all are from similar backgrounds, similar opportunities in club,” she said. “It was so easy playing here.”
The ex-Lady Mustang said she has developed as a player both on and off the field, especially as a team leader.
“The more we became an older team, the connections between the players became stronger,” she said. “We became more confident with each other.”
Gaines-Ramos concurred this year’s team has something to prove.
“Considering how strong we were last year, it didn’t turn out the way we wanted,” she said. “This year we don’t want to leave it on the table.”
A first team all-conference last season, Sekimoto tied for third on the team with five goals while adding an assist. She appeared in all 20 matches in 2023, starting six of them. She finished with the team’s top shots on goal percentage (70.6).
The former Lady Titan earned Metro-Mesa League Player of the Year honors as a junior and senior. She was part of a royalty procession at Eastlake with two league titles and two CIF divisional titles during her three years on the varsity squad.
A dynamo on the pitch, she scored 17 goals her senior season after netting 13 goals as a junior. She won a USYS national championship with the Rebel Elite.
Eckhardt, an interdisciplinary studies major, appeared in all 20 matches last season, starting 18. She played two seasons at Bonita Vista High School, helping the Lady Barons to a 24-7-3 overall record, including 19-4-1 in Metro-Mesa League play.
A member of the 2023 MW All-Academic team, Savage appeared in all 20 matches last season. She ranked second on the team with six goals last season to go with a pair of assists.
Lane comes highly decorated to Montezuma Mesa.
She played four seasons at Eastlake, earning the school’s Winter Female Athlete of the Year in her senior season. She led the Lady Titans to the 2024 CIF San Diego Section Open Division championship game. In 42 career high school games, she scored 50 goals and totaled 102 points. Her 32 goals as a senior ranked fourth in the section, first among Division I teams.
Cornerkicks
SDSU opened the season with a 3-0 non-conference victory over Cal State Bakersfield Aug. 15 at Snapdragon Stadium. Gaines-Ramos, Castro and Sekimoto each scored goals in front of 1,966 fans.
The Lady Aztecs kick off conference play with home games against Nevada (Sept. 26) and UNLV (Sept. 29) before embarking on a four-game road trip to Utah State (Oct. 3), Boise State (Oct. 6), Colorado College (Oct. 10) and Air Force Academy (Oct. 13).
SDSU will host the MW championship tournament Nov. 3-9 on the Sports Deck.
The Lady Aztecs will host Utah Valley in a non-conference match this Sunday, Sept. 22, at noon.
Photo Gallery by Tilman Oberbannscheidt
