MORAGA, Calif. - The Saint Mary's men's soccer team will head to the South Bay to take on San Jose State on Friday, September 20th at 6:30 PM. The Gaels have been on a tough stretch as of late suffering back-to-back home defeats to UC Davis and Sacramento State last week but will look to develop some momentum before conference play as they seek their sixth straight win over the Spartans dating back to 2018.
GAME INFORMATION AND COVERAGE
GAELS RECAP
The Gaels are coming off of back-to-back losses to Big West opponents in UC Davis and Sacramento State. After their 2-0 home defeat to the Aggies on Thursday, head coach
Adam Cooper went with a fresh starting eleven for Sunday's game against Sac State. Center backs
Jackson Fyda and
Jamal Marseille got their first starts of the season along with freshman outside back
Sebastian Barrios. Junior captain
Bastian Toelhoej would slide into the midfield and showcase his technical skill and versatility, recording another 90-minute performance and netting his second goal of the season.
David Christensen would draw a penalty for the Gaels in the fourth minute and Toelhoej would bury the penalty into the bottom left corner to give Saint Mary's a 1-0 lead.
The Gaels would hold that lead into the second half but the Hornets applied pressure all game long, finishing with 18 shots and 11 corner kicks. They would go on to score three goals within a seven-minute span to take a 3-1 lead. The Gaels would get one back from junior defender
Luke Lawrence in the 70th minute who has been active offensively for the Gaels this season. He scored off a free kick from the right side with a fortunate bounce in the box for his first of the season and also leads the team with two assists. The Hornets would put the game to bed though with a corner kick goal in the 83rd minute to seal the two-goal road victory.
Saint Mary's will have one more opportunity to build some momentum before they start WCC action as they take on the Spartans this Friday at 6:30 PM. The Gaels have an impressive track record against San Jose State currently riding a five-game win streak dating back to 2018. They have outscored the Spartans 7-1 in their last two meetings and will look for their first win this season since August 25th.
ABOUT SAN JOSE STATE (WAC)
San Jose State enters Friday's match with a 1-3-2 overall record. The Spartans lone win came against Sacramento State in a 2-1 home victory. They have scored in every match this season except one and even battled 5th ranked Stanford to a 2-1 defeat to begin the season. Both the Spartans and Gaels are 1-2 this season against common opponents. San Jose lost to Cal Poly while Saint Mary's beat the Mustangs 2-0 last month. However, the Spartans did take down the Hornets 2-1 while the Gaels fell this past weekend to Sacramento State 4-2.
SJSU placed 6th in the WAC last season with a 6-8-4 overall record. They would be the final seed in their conference tournament but fell in the first round to Utah Tech, 0-1. The Spartans are led by Simon Tobin who enters his 11th season with the program. Before taking over in 2014, Tobin was a long time head coach at CSU Bakersfield. He led the Roadrunners to a National Championship in 1997 and helped them make the transition from Division II to Division I in 2007.
Their last trip to the NCAA Tournament was in 2003 and the Spartans have recorded just two double digit win seasons in the last ten years. This year, junior forward Diogo Baptista leads the team with two goals and Gilberto Rivera and Angel Iniguez each have two assists as the Spartans average a goal per game.
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