Aug. 19, 2014
San Jose, Calif. - In its first exhibition action of the fall, the San Jose State men's soccer team earned a 2-1 result over the Sonoma State Seawolves on the new Spartan Soccer Field.
Somona State had a 1-0 lead after the first 45 minutes.
In the second half, the Spartans got goals from junior Victor Parra and senior Enrique Montano for the final margin.
After the match head coach Simon Tobin, in his first year leading the side, had these comments on his team's effort.
You got a 2-1 win, so you have to be happy with that and it looked like as time went on the momentum was building especially in the second half.
"Your quite right any time you play you want to get the result, regardless of if it's exhibition or the regular season. Our play was a poor first half for a couple reasons. We only suited 14 players and a couple of them got hurt and we are still in a learing mode. So for us to be better in the second half was quite good. We were tired (because of our numbers) and they were fresh (having a full squad suited up). We changed the way we played in the second half and it was much more successful."
What did you see from your team that you liked?
"I think the best thing that I saw was the play of freshman Darren Sinclair. If you just watched him and saw the amount of work he got done it was impressive. I came here to make this program brilliant in the future. To see a freshman come in and play that well is a sign of things to come. He was outstanding."
What things do you feel the team needs to work on?
"Everything. We have to improve on defense, in goal, at midfield and up top. But I told the players after the game that we are good enough to compete. They have bought into and done everything we've asked. There are still things we have to work on; discipline and professionalism, but it's coming.
"We have to get everyone healthy and get our legs under us, remember we are still in the middle of double days. Our goal is to be ready to go on August 29 at Bradley, when the games start counting.
"Today and (our match on Saturday at) Santa Clara are building blocks. We have been plugging guys into new positions and today you saw some of that. We ran two different systems, with some guys playing in different places and, at least in the second half it was successful. That can only help down the line."
The Spartans wrap up exhibition play against the Broncos at Buck Shaw Stadium on Saturday, August 23. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.