The San José State women’s soccer team lost a nail biter 1-0 when it hosted Mountain West Conference rival Wyoming on Thursday.

This was a rematch of the 2022 MWC semi-final game in which SJSU won 6-5 in a shootout.

The Spartans (3-5-5, 1-2-2 MWC) were stunned in the 89th minute as the Cowgirls’ (5-5-3, 1-4 MWC) midfielder Alyssa Glover assisted defender Keelie Wortmann for her first goal of the season, giving Wyoming the deciding goal.

Spartan’s head coach Tina Estrada said the loss was because of lack of focus on the game plan in the game’s final minutes. 

“At the start of the game we were doing good but we didn’t execute the end of match tactics and fell apart in the end,” Estrada said. 

Senior midfielder Sabrina Weinman led the Spartans’ offense against the Cowgirls with 4 shots total and 3 shots on goal.

“If we could have put some goals away in the first half, we wouldn’t have been in the bind we were in, in the second half,” Weinman said. “We wanted to start off with more energy in the second half and felt like we did but the goalies from Wyoming made some good saves.”  

The Spartans closest chance at getting on the board came in the 18th minute when junior midfielder Taylor Phillips put one in the back of the net.

The goal however, was called back because of an offsides penalty.

Weinman said the team played with momentum in the first half, being aggressive and pressing up close defensively but being a player down in the second half put them in a tough spot with time winding down. 

Senior midfielder Kiana Miyazato was ejected after receiving a red card in the 51st minute causing the Spartans to be down a player for the rest of the match. 

Thursday’s game presented one of the more physical matchups for the Spartans this season with Wyoming receiving 5 yellow cards.

In the 90th minute the Spartans were able to get two shots off by Evan House and Iliana Jasso but could not come up with the equalizer.

Sophomore goalkeeper Bente Pernot ended the game with three saves and one goal allowed. 

“(I’m) proud of my team and the way we played tonight, especially being down a player for most of the second half. We handled the counter attacks from Wyoming excellently until the end there,” Pernot said. 

The Spartans would go on to draw against Colorado State on Sunday 4-4. SJSU is set to face off against Boise State at 6 p.m. PDT Thursday at the Boas Soccer Complex in Boise.