MSOC | Gaels Pierce Spartan Defense, Win 5-1

Thursday, September 6

Moraga, CA

4:00 p.m. PT

Saint Mary's College of California

4-0

San Jose State

1-3-1

San Jose State

Saint Mary's (CA)

Photo by: Saint Mary's Athletics / Tod Fierner

MSOC | Gaels Pierce Spartan Defense, Win 5-1

9/6/2018 9:05:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

Saint Mary's scored five times Thursday evening to remain perfect this season at 4-0.

MORAGA, Calif. — Saint Mary's displayed their high-octane offense once again Thursday evening in Moraga as the Gaels easily took down San Jose State 5-1 to remain undefeated this season. The Spartans moved to 1-3-1 with the loss.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Stephen Dougherty put the Gaels (4-0) on the board with his first tally of the season on a penalty kick in the 27th minute. After Jakub Svehlik was fouled on a quality scoring opportunity inside the box, the senior Dougherty converted a well-placed shot to the lower left corner to give Saint Mary's the 1-0 lead.

Following a scoreless remainder to the first half, Valentin Sponer unloaded a missile from 25 yards out to the far left corner in the 50th minute to double the Gaels' lead. The sophomore's first score of the season was also the second of his career.

Saint Mary's opened the floodgates shortly after as Anders Engebretsen broke free on a through ball from Svehlik and snuck his shot short side in the 65th minute for his team-leading fifth goal. Just over two minutes later, Jake Rudel headed a 50/50 ball away from the Spartans' keeper and quickly put it away to widen the lead to four.

Freshman Javier Rivera Hernandez notched his first collegiate goal in his third career game in the 77th minute off a corner kick. The 6-3 forward capitalized on a rebound off a shot from teammate Miguel Bowden and poked it into the net for the easy tally.

Gaels' keeper Remi Prieur earned his fourth win of the season with another sterling performance. Prieur's six saves in the match came against 11 total shots by the Spartan offense. Saint Mary's backline made things easier for their goalie by limiting San Jose State to only two corner kicks in the contest.

Unfortunately for Prieur and the Gaels, the team's scoreless streak was broken in the 85th minute as SJSU's Danny Sanchez connected on a perfectly-placed long range shot to the top right corner to breakup the clean sheet. The late score was the first goal Saint Mary's had allowed in 354 minutes up to that point.

THOUGHTS FROM ADAM COOPER

"Today's game was a good overall performance. I think we let San Jose State dictate the tempo of the game early on but once we took charge of the tempo, we played very well."
"We took our chances, scored some good goals, and defended well."

QUICK FACTS

The Gaels are now 12-17-2 all-time against the Spartans and 4-1-2 in their last seven meetings.
Saint Mary's totaled 17 shots in the match and took five corner kicks.
Engebretsen led all players in the match with six shots in only 64 minutes of action.
Dougherty's penalty kick was the first PK the Gaels have taken this season.
SMC was called for 21 fouls compared to 11 for the Spartans.

UP NEXT: HOME STAND CONCLUDES WITH CAL POLY

The Gaels will finish their season opening five-game home stand on Sunday as they host Cal Poly at 1 p.m. The match will be the front end of a Saint Mary's doubleheader with the women's team taking on Fresno State immediately following the game.
Tickets for the game can be found by clicking here, calling the Ticket Office at (925) 631-GoTx, or by purchasing them at the entrance to the stadium.