San Jose, Calif. - Though they outplayed their opponent through much of the match, San Jose State women's soccer (3-9-1, 1-3-0 WAC) lost a hard-fought battle against the UTSA Roadrunners in a Western Athletic Conference (WAC) match on Sunday afternoon at Spartan Stadium.
"Same story, different day," said Spartans head coach Jeff Leightman. "We outplayed them and we created chances, but we allowed goals and could not finish what chances we did create."
At the 29-minute mark, Maria Jose Rojas put the Roadrunners (2-8-2, 1-1-2 WAC) on the board with her team-leading second goal of the season. Liv Nyhegn fed her the ball and, on a breakaway, Rojas tapped it past Zoe Makrigiannis's left side.
Simone Boye doubled UTSA's lead with her second of the season in the 62 minute after a corner kick by Laylla da Cruz. Said Leightman, "It was a corner kick in the second half, and we allowed them to have wide-open players. We cannot let that happen."
But eight minutes later, junior Megan Molina was awarded a corner kick and with Helen Phan positioned in front of the Roadrunners' net, the senior knocked in her second goal of the season to cut UTSA's lead in half.
"The goal was really exciting because it gave us momentum," Phan said. "But overall, this game was really unlucky, because I think that we did a great job of adapting to them.
"As a team, we have been playing better but I hope that we can find the missing part that we need to win."
Freshman Megan Rauschnot took six of her team's 18 shots, four more than the UTSA's shot total.
Katarina Pus and Ari Calderon combined to make 10 saves for the Roadrunners, and Makrigiannis recorded six saves for the Spartans. "Zoe (Makrigiannis) kept us in the game," Leightman said. "She played fantastically. She made a save on a penalty kick and made a bunch of other great saves."
Leightman summed up what his team needs to do to come out of a game victorious. "We have not led a match since August 30," said San Jose State's head coach. "We have got to score the first goal and not be chasing the match. It is just that simple."
The Spartans travel to Moscow, Idaho to face off against the University of Idaho on Thursday, October 12, at 3:00 p.m.