Despite a 9-to-7 shot advantage, San Jose State (2-3-1) was shut out, 1-0, by the University of Nevada in a non-conference women's soccer match at Spartan Stadium.
"Give credit to Nevada," Spartans head coach Jeff Leightman said. "I think they came to play, and they played good soccer. Tonight, we did not play as well as we can. We showed moments where we were dangerous, but if we are not going to play at our best, we are going to leave opponents in the game."
The lone goal of the game was scored at the 64-minute mark. Nevada (3-3-1) was awarded a corner kick and Chrisalyn Fonte's header from that kick sailed past freshman goalkeeper Emily Pryor, who made four saves in the match.
Said Leightman, "The goal was one moment where, off of a long throw-in, they flicked the ball over our heads. We did not go in and win the ball. We let the ball bounce, and once you let the ball bounce, anything can happen. We did not win the header and once it went in to the back of the net, that was the game."
Senior Kelsey Lord took three shots and freshman Mikaella Meibock took two shots.
In the second half, the Spartans and Wolf Pack each recorded five shots. Leightman said, "The second half was back and forth but we did not finish when we had chances. Nevada finished one of their chances, and that is soccer."
Leightman believes that the team's lack of rhythm is the reason for its recent losses. "We did not find the rhythm tonight as well as we had been playing with earlier in the season," he said. "We are trying out different people in different spots and as we get healthier, we are trying to find ourselves.
"I am not concerned about our lack of rhythm long-term because sometimes, you need to go backwards to go forwards."
The Spartans' head coach said, "The final score was unfortunate. We need to move on, focus, recollect ourselves, and we need to play better for Sunday."
The Spartans host the UC Riverside Highlanders on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.