The San José State men’s soccer team suffered its first loss of the season Thursday night by a score of 3-0 to the University of San Francisco at the Spartan Soccer Complex.
The game brought the team’s 3-game win streak to an end, their best season start since 2001.
Head coach Simon Tobin emphasized the strength of this season’s USF team.
“They’re the most complete team we’ll play this year, maybe them and Stanford,” Tobin said. “We came out like we were a 3-0 team, thinking we could just step on the field. Full credit to USF.”
From the start of the game, USF came in ready to score, scoring its first goal in just under six minutes by forward Brayden Beason.
Not long after, nearing the 12-minute mark, defender Rylan Smith, with an assist from freshmen midfielder Ben Norris, was able to secure his second goal for the Dons, while SJSU remained at 0.
With an intense game going, tension increased midway through the first half. After a physical challenge near the midfield, both SJSU midfielder Cameron Cook and USF forward David Raphael were given yellow cards.
Junior defender Ruben Flores-Thomas managed to take two strong shots, putting pressure on USF’s goalkeeping.
Early in the second half, midfielder Angel Iniguez tested the Dons’ goalkeeper Wesley May by kicking off a clean strike.
In the second half of the game, Spartans continued their efforts to turn the game around. Iniguez and midfielder Angel Fernandez made various attempts to shift the game’s momentum, however the team seemed to just not be in sync.
USF kept their defense up and waited for their moment to strike. That moment came around the 68:00 of the game, as forward Zane Alafranji and midfielder Mason Dougherty set up Brayden Beason to score his second goal of the night.
The Spartans’ defense had a couple solid moments including defender Javier Lopez coming up with solid key stops.
In addition, goalkeeper Edgar Guerra made a couple late saves to prevent further damage, but the Spartans couldn’t bounce back from the earlier goals. The Dons’ dominance was reflected in the stats: 19 shots to the Spartans’ 6, including 13 shots on goal in comparison to just three for the home team.
Head coach Simon Tobin didn’t hesitate to point out the team’s defensive vulnerabilities, emphasizing that it is essential to strengthen their defense.
“Because we want to attack so much, we lose ourselves in the back,” Tobin said.
Also making his presence known was sophomore midfielder Neo Ruiz, as he continuously found himself up front making runs and pressing the defenders.
Later in the game, tension flared once again as Cook and Beason exchanged words. However, this was quickly shut down and everyone was seen later shaking hands easing the tension.
A consistent leader in the Spartans’ line of defense was defender Niklas Dossmann. The senior defender brought on some valuable qualities that were crucial to Thursday night’s challenging game.
“It’s a wake-up call for the group,” Dossmann said.
Throughout the match, Dossmann’s ability to communicate and his leadership helped steady the backline as it faced pressure from the Dons.
“It’s not done, nothing’s over, nothing’s lost, we’re still together as a team,” Guerra said.
The Spartans are scheduled to face California State University Northridge this Thursday, Sept. 11, at 7 p.m. PDT at the Spartan Soccer Complex in San José.
