Lupita Ferreyra
San José women’s soccer team huddles up after a tough season at home. SJSU had one victory throughout the season.
The San José State women’s soccer team lost its final home game of the season against the U.S. Air Force Academy 4-2.
The Falcons made three of their goals in the first half, all scored by defender Annika Jost.
The fourth and final Air Force goal was scored by Zahra Friess in the second half.
With less than six minutes of the match left to spare, the Spartans recorded their first goal on an Air Force own goal at the 84:53 minute mark.
This is Leilani White’s first season with the Spartans after transferring from Mt. San Antonio College.
White said after the Spartans’ first goal of the game was scored, the energy of the team shifted for the better.
“I definitely felt hyped, my teammates felt hyped and then I feel like when everyone’s hyped, it’s a good type of energy, a good type of vibe and it just makes you want more after that,” White said.
This goal broke the momentum of the game and a few minutes later, the Spartans secured their second goal.
However, White said the team needs to work on playing to its full potential for the game’s full 90 minutes.
“It’s not the result we wanted, but I can definitely say the second half was better than the first,” White said. “Obviously, there are negatives we need to work on, but we also have to look at the positives too, because the things we keep doing well, we have to stay consistent on those things.”
Freshman defender Gabrielle Germain scored the second goal for the Spartans with only thirty seconds left to spare in the game, at 89:21.
This is freshman midfielder Mercedes Cioffi’s first season with the Spartans.
Cioffi said the most challenging aspect of the match was the athleticism of the game in comparison to prior matches in the season.
“There are other games where you can kind of stand and kind of jog, but with this game you’re in full sprints and you have to make sure that you’re staying focused,” Cioffi said.
The Spartans also played against Utah State on Sunday and lost 7-1.
Spartans head coach Sonia Curvelo said that she is not happy with the wins and losses record, but is proud of her team nevertheless.
“We’ve scored more goals than we did last year, and we have like 50 percent of the players on the field being freshmen,” Curvelo said. “So I know we do have a good future here. I really think we’re going to make a huge jump next year.”
Curvelo said that they have always played stronger in the first half and the players typically lose energy entering the second half of matches.
However, this match was the opposite as the Spartans attempted 11 shots in the second half, compared to five shots in the first.
“It was the halftime talk I hope, telling them you got to treat this game like it’s 0-0, it doesn’t matter what the score line says there,” Curvelo said. “We came in with that second half, we didn’t win the game, but we did win the second half.”
San José State has only one more game left of the season against Fresno State this Thursday in Fresno at 7:00 p.m.
“For us, it’s just being able to set those goals early if we can. I know it was late, but at least we kept fighting all the way to the end, and that’s all I can ask from them,” Curvelo said.