Utah Tech men's soccer was bested by San Diego State 1-0 in a home conference match on Sunday at Greater Zion Stadium. The game was marked by two red cards for UT, but the Trailblazers did not surrender a goal while down a man or two.

San Diego State took its lead early in the match, scoring on its second shot in the second minute of play. Senior Robbie Matei dribbled down the left side of the field and into the box where he rocketed the ball past Trailblazer goalkeeper Stockton Short in the bottom-left side of the goal. 

On an Aztec breakaway in the 29th minute, junior Anthony Godinez got twisted around the Aztec attacker and brought him down resulting in a red card for denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity. 

Despite being down a man, Utah Tech logged five shots in the first half, two of which were on goal, while SDSU was content to play offense mostly on counter-attack opportunities. 

In the 59th minute, the Trailblazers' went down another man after redshirt junior Ethan Bell was sent off for violent behavior.

With a two-man advantage, San Diego State had all the momentum to keep attacking, but Short and the UT defense managed to keep the deficit at one goal. Short would finish with nine saves on the afternoon. 

In the 69th minute, Utah Tech developed its best chance of the second half as senior Damian Arguello got off a promising shot that just missed high and left. 

The match was chippy resulting in 26 total fouls, 15 for the Aztecs and 11 for the Trailblazers, as well as two red cards on UT and three yellow cards on SDSU. 

San Diego State (5-4-2, 2-0-0 WAC) outshot Utah Tech (1-7-2, 0-2-0 WAC) 14-9, including a 10-2 margin in shots on goal. Short recorded nine saves for UT while the Aztecs totaled two. 

Utah Tech next takes on San José State on Thursday, Oct. 10 at the Spartan Soccer Complex in San Jose, California. First touch is scheduled for 8 p.m. (MT) and the game will be streamed on WAC International.