San Jose, Calif. - Though they more-than doubled its opponents shots taken in the game, San Jose State (2-4-1) lost 3-1 to UC Riverside in a non-conference women's soccer match.
"We gave them opportunities and they finished almost every one of them," said San Jose State head coach Jeff Leightman. "Today, we were very poor in front of the goal and honestly, I do not think our hunger was there to finish goals."
Jessica Cortez opened scoring for the Highlanders (4-2-2) in the third minute of the match. The senior midfielder got in alone on goalkeeper Emily Pryor and banged the ball past Pryor's left side.
Sophomore Gabriella Stange knotted the game when, off of a pass from senior Kelsey Lord, she slipped the ball past Jessica White for her first career goal.
But UC Riverside won the match in the final 25 minutes with goals from Alexa Bustamante and Shelley Brumbaugh.
Pryor and freshman Zoe Makrigiannis shared the Spartans' goalkeeping duties. "Zoe (Makrigiannis) has been training hard and doing well, so our plan all along was to have them share the net," Leightman said. "That was nothing to do with the game. The decision was made before the game."
Despite the loss, Leightman feels that there are positive aspects of the Spartans' game. "We are still creating a lot of chances," he said. "We just need to finish those chances. We out-shot them 12-to-5, and out-chanced them by a bit, as well."
Freshman Megan Rauschnot and Lord led the Spartans with three shots each.
Said Leightman, "This is the third game in a row where we have let the other team set the tempo coming out, and it is unacceptable. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror and be better because we are a better team than this."
Next weekend, the Spartans head to Flagstaff, Ariz., for the Hilton Garden Inn High Altitude Tournament, hosted by Northern Arizona University. They face UNLV on Friday, September 14 at 4:00 p.m., and NAU on Sunday, September 16 at 1:00 p.m.