SAN JOSE, Calif. – Saint Mary's Men's Soccer came out hot in their first road match of 2022, striking early in the first half and tacking on throughout the game in a 4-0 win over San Jose State to improve to 3-2 on the season.

In a game that was pushed back into the night due to the extreme temps on Spartans Soccer double header -- with kick off close to 9:00 p.m. Pacific Time -- SMC looked un-bothered in their first night and road game of the season.
 
OH YEHYA
Valentin Kurz beat a Spartans midfielder to a loose ball inside the Gaels half of the field, before Matthias Kuhn blasted a pass all the way down towards the penalty area of the Spartans.
 
Omar Yehya outraced the SJSU defenders to the ball and fired off a right-footed shot past the charging goalkeeper into the back of the net for a 1-0 SMC lead in the eighth minute.
 
KING FELIX
The Gaels had two corner pieces in a row late in the first half, and scored on the second one. Greg Brighton launched a cross all the way to the other side of the net where Felix Calero rose up and headed in his second goal of season. It was Calero's second header for a goal this year and put Saint Mary's up 2-0 in the 38th minute.
 
SMC went into the break up 2-0 and San Jose State attempted to turn up the pressure and get back into the game. They would threaten to do so in the 54th minute, but goalkeeper Jack Landreth jumped up and punched away a shot over the crossbar to preserve the shutout.
 
CORNERED
The Gaels did not take their foot off the pedal, as they executed another perfect corner piece in a different way. Bordanne Ngongfor took the corner kick and fed Riley Lynch just inside the box on the left side.
 
That left Lynch with room to shoot as the Spartans defense all played deep in the six-yard area, expecting another cross near the goal. Lynch wound up and fired a shot that deflected off a defender and bounced in to the right side of the net for a 3-0 lead in the 58th minute. It was the second goal of the season for the Chandler, Ariz. native, and was similar to his goal against UC Davis that caromed off a defender as well.
 
FOUR SCORES
But SMC wasn't done yet. After a free kick just accross midfield, the Gaels tic-tac-toed their way through the Spartans defense to get into the San Jose's side of the field. Yehya moved the ball ahead to Lynch, who fed a pass across to Gael Quintero.
 
The 2021 All-WCC Freshman team member beat a defender and booted one passed a diving keeper into the right side of the net for a 4-0 Saint Mary's lead in the 70th minute. It was Quintero's first goal of the season and first of his Gaels career after registering two assists as a freshman.
 
It was the first clean sheet as a Gael for Landreth in just his second start at SMC, after the sophomore keeper transferred to Saint Mary's from Cal State East Bay this year.
 
UP NEXT:
The Gaels will head south to Irvine, Calif. to take on the UC Irvine Anteaters at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, September 13.