No. 25/19 Tech opens 2025 season at San Diego St

SAN DIEGO – For the third straight season, No. 25/19 Texas Tech Soccer will open its season on the road, as the Red Raiders travel to San Diego State Thursday for a 9 p.m. (CT)/7 p.m. (PT) matchup.

Facing the Aztecs for the fifth total time and for the first time since 2019 when the Red Raiders also faced SDSU in the season opener, the Red Raiders enter the season ranked No. 25 overall in the United Soccer Coaches Association poll and No. 19 in the TopDrawer Soccer poll.

It's been a busy preseason for the Red Raiders who were projected to finish second in the 2025 Big 12 Conference Preseason poll,, as five different players earned Preseason All-Big 12 honors.

In addition to her Preseason All-Big 12 selection, Macy Blackburn was also named a Preseason First Team All-American by TopDrawer Soccer, was tabbed the No. 3 overall player (top defender in the country) in the nation and was named as the publications favorite to earn Big 12 Player of the Year.

Thursday's opener marks the first of three-straight road contests in the State of California and opens a stretch of four of the first six regular season matches away from the John Walker Soccer Complex. Following the contest at SDSU, the Red Raiders return home for the home opener against Youngstown State before Tech returns to California for matchups next Thursday (Aug. 21) at No. 16 Santa Clara and next Sunday (Aug. 24) at San Francisco.

This weeks season opener will be a homecoming for goalkeeper Faith Nguyen who grew up less than 90 miles from the SDSU Sports Deck in Costa Mesa.

Nguyen is one of two Californians on the Tech roster as sixth-year midfielder Chloe Japic grew up in Palo Alto, Calif.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
MATCHUP: No. 25/19 Texas Tech (0-0-0) at San Diego State (0-0-0)
DATE: Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025
TIME: 9 p.m. (CT)/7 p.m. (PT)
TV: Mountain West Digital Network
LOCATION: San Diego, Calif. (SDSU Sports Deck)

BY THE NUMBERS:
25: Boasting one of the nation's top defensive units the last two seasons, the Red Raiders enter the 2025 season having recorded 25 clean sheets the last two seasons. After recording 13 total shutouts in 23 matches in 2023, the Red Raiders followed it up with 12 shutouts in 22 matches in 2024. The Red Raiders are 30-2-6 the last two seasons when allowing a goal or fewer (losses to UT 1-0 in 2023 and to UNC 1-0 in 2023). Tech was 15-0-2 last season when allowing a goal or fewer.

2: While putting the ball in the back of the net is the name of the game, scoring twice has been critical for the Red Raiders success as since the start of the 2022 season, the Red Raiders are now 34-0-1 (lone tie at No. 7 BYU in 2023) when scoring two goals. When you expand that mark out to the beginning of the 2021 season, Tech is 43-2-1 when scoring twice in a match.

31: The Red Raiders enter the 2025 season having won 31 total matches the last two seasons and having won 15 matches in back-to-back seasons. The Red Raiders 31 total victories are the most since the 2013 and 2014 seasons when Tech won 34 matches in back-to-back seasons.

QUICK KICKS:

• No. 25 Texas Tech Soccer opens its 2025 season on the road for the third straight season. After opening the season at New Mexico in 2023, the Red Raiders (then ranked No. 8) traveled to No. 4 Penn State for the season opener a season ago. The Red Raiders are 13-3-2 all-time under Tom Stone in the season opener and have won six of the last eight season openers. The lone loss in that span was the 2024, 4-0 loss to the fourth-ranked Nittany Lions. Prior to the loss to Penn State last year, the Red Raiders were unbeaten (5-0-1) in their last six season openers.

• In addition to the 13-3-2 mark in overall season openers, Stone is now 13-0-1 against non-P4 opponents in the season opener. The lone non-victory for the Red Raiders in that span was a 1-1 tie at New Mexico to open the 2023 season. Of the 13 wins for Stone, one came against San Diego State back in 2019.

• Texas Tech enters the 2025 season after recording another 15-win season and a second place finish in the Big 12 standings. The second place finish in the final Big 12 standings marks the third-straight season that the Red Raiders have finished at least second in the final standings, as the Red Raiders finished tied for second in 2023 before winning the league outright in 2023.

• Bolstered by the returns of All-Conference selections (2023) Kylie Bahr and Sam Courwright who missed the entire 2024 season with knee injuries, the Red Raiders were picked second in the Big 12 Preseason poll earning a pair of first place votes in said poll. In addition to the second place finish, the Red Raiders also saw a league-best five players named to the Preseason All-big 12 squad and one player from each of the four positions (GK, D, MF and F) named to the team. That group included GK Faith Nguyen, Defender Macy Blackburn, Midfielders Peyton Parsons and Sam Courtwright, as well as forward Taylor Zdrojewski.

• Courtwright was named a 2023 Third Team All-American, a First Team Freshman All-American and the Big 12s Freshman of the Year. The injury came at a devastating time as Courtwright was not only forced to miss the entire season but also the U-20 FIFA World Cup where she would have played for the USYNT.

• In addition to returning 37 of 45 goals (82.2 percent), the Red Raiders also return eight of the 11 players who scored and the teams two leading scorers (Zdrojewski and Parsons) from a season ago. Tech also returns its starting goalkeeper, Nguyen, who shined in her first season after transferring from UCLA. Nguyen earned 10 shutouts, had a GAA of 0.91 and made 61 saves.

UP NEXT:
The Red Raiders return home for the 2025 home opener on Sunday (Aug. 17) night against the Penguins of Youngstown State. First touch is set for 7 p.m.

No. 25/19 Tech opens 2025 season at San Diego St

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Kylie Bahr

Macy Blackburn

Sam Courtwright

Faith Nguyen

Peyton Parsons

Taylor Zdrojewski