Oct. 16, 2014
San Jose, Calif. - The San José State men's soccer team begins its longest home stand, three games, on Friday when it welcomes Western Athletic Conference foe Houston Baptist to Spartan Soccer Field and then wraps up the weekend on Sunday with a match against Incarnate Word.
San José State (3-7-1, 1-1-1 WAC)
vs. Houston Baptist (1-5-2, 0-2-0 WAC)
Friday, October 17, 2014, 12:00 p.m.
Spartan Soccer Field - San Jose, Calif.
Live stats and streaming video are available for free at www.sjsuspartans.com
vs. Incarnate Word (3-6-0, 2-0-0 WAC)
Sunday, October 19, 2014, 3:00 p.m.
Spartan Soccer Field - San Jose, Calif.
Live stats and streaming video are available for free at www.sjsuspartans.com
LIVE STATS
Fans can follow the action of all San José State home and most road contests by accessing the "Live Stats" feature on the men's soccer schedule page at www.sjsuspartans.com.
VIDEO STREAMING
Spartan Digital is your ALL-ACCESS passport to Spartan Athletics. For live and recorded video and audio of San José State men's soccer home games, go to the SPARTAN DIGITAL link on the home page at
www.sjsuspartans.com.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Keep up with all 19 San José State teams through social media sites Twitter and Facebook. For Twitter go to @sjsuathletics and on Facebook become friends with Sammy Spartan.
MEN'S SOCCER TICKETS
Tickets for all San José State men's soccer home games are free for all SJSU students, faculty and staff with a valid Tower Card. Adult tickets are $5.00, youth (12 years old and under) are $3.00 and any child wearing a jersey gets in for $1.00 on select match days.
Groups of 20 or more can purchase discounted tickets at $3.00 per person. The Ticket Office opens one hour prior to kickoff at Spartan Soccer Field or can be purchased by calling the San José State Ticket Office at 408-924-SJTX (7589).
ACCOLADES POUR IN FOR KNIBBS
Rory Knibbs (So., F, London, England) scored three times last weekend as the Spartans went 1-0-1. The team had their first unbeaten weekend of road conference play in two years and won 5-1 at Air Force, at the time the second ranked team in the West according to the NSCAA polls.
On Monday the accolades started coming. For his efforts Knibbs was selected the WAC's Offensive Player of the Week. In addition, he was named to College Soccer News' National Team of the Week. Then on Tuesday, he was named collegesportsmadness.com's National Player of the Week and its WAC Player of the Week.
COLUNGA LEADS WAC IN ASSISTS AND TOP-10 NATIONALLY IN ASSISTS PER GAME
Johnathan Colunga (So. MF, Lindsay, Calif.) has assisted on six of the Spartans 19 goals this season and shares the Western Athletic Conference lead for assists. At his current pace, he could end the season with 10 assists and become just the fifth Spartan to reach double-digit assists in a season since 1990. The last to reach double figures in assists for SJSU was Lars Lyssand. He had 10 in the 2001 season.
Colunga also tops the league with three assists in WAC play. He is 10th in the nation in assists per game and 13th in total assists.
KNIBBS REMAINS AMONG THE NATIONS BEST
With his three goals last week, Rory Knibbs (So., F, London, England) ranks among the most dangerous strikers in the WAC and the nation.
Knibbs ranks second in the conference in goals with seven and is second in points with 16. Nationally he ranks 23rd in total goals and 22nd in goals per game. He is 32nd in total points and his 1.45 points per game is the 27th best in the nation.
HARTE EMERGING
Greg Harte (Fr., F, Cork, Ireland) ranks in the top-10 of five overall offensive categories in the WAC. He is tied for fifth in goals (5), is eighth in points (10) and goals per game (0.45). He ranks 10th in shots (29) and points per game (0.91). On the national stage, Harte is 76th in total goals and 80th in goals per game.
In WAC games his performances is ever more impressive. In three matches he is tied seventh in shots (9) and shots per game (3.00). He is tied fifth in points (4) and tied for eighth in points per game (1.33). His two goals are good for a tie for third most and his 0.67 goals per game are tied for seventh best in the league.
SPARTANS SHEDDING MONIKER OF BEING NAUGHTY BOYS
In 2013, San José State led the Western Athletic Conference in both fouls (302) and yellow cards (44). However in 2014, under first year head coach Simon Tobin, the Spartans are on the opposite end of the rankings in yellow cards and much improved in fouls committed.
Through 11 matches, the Spartans have only been booked eight times for yellow cards, by far the fewest in the league, and are the only side in the WAC that are being issued less than a card a match. In two weeks of conference action, San José State is the only side to not be booked.
The team ranks sixth among the 10 teams in the WAC for fouls committed. Being ranked first means you have committed the most fouls. The Spartans have been whistled for 139 fouls through 11 matches. That's 46 fewer fouls committed than through 11 games last year.
SCOUTING HOUSTON BAPTIST
The Huskies enter the week with an overall record of 1-5-2, 0-2-0 in WAC play. Last week they hosted Incarnate Word in their only contest and fell 0-2. HBU is 1-3-1 in road contests this season and have dripped their last two matches away from home.
The Spartans and Huskies have met four times with the series split 2-2-0. In the only match contended in San Jose, SJSU earned a 2-0 victory in the 2012 season. The sides met once last year, on HBU's Sorrels Field, and the Huskies handed San José State a 5-0 thrashing.
Houston Baptist's offense is paced by senior striker Patrick Toh who has found the back of the net four times and had nine points. An additional four players have scored two goals this year for the Huskies.
Kevin Suarez, senior keeper, has played the majority of the minutes in goal for HBU. He has allowed 15 shots past his line in six matches for a GAA of 2.33, while stopping 38 (.717 save%). His record is 0-4-2.
Head Coach Steve Jones is in his ninth season leading the Houston Baptist program. In the eight years prior to 2014, he compiled a 59-63-13 record.
LAST TIME AGAINST HOUSTON BAPTIST (11/3/13)
Houston, Texas - The San José State men's soccer team was out shot 24-to-11 including 9-to-2 in shots on goal and lost 5-0 to the Huskies of Houston Baptist on Sunday afternoon in Western Athletic Conference action.
Houston Baptist opened the scoring at the 24:15 mark. Patrick Toh got the goal off a cross from Kyle Herbison. Then 23 seconds later, after Spartans yellow card, Walter Kromholz found the back of the net for a 2-0 HBU lead.
Andy Kelly was sent off at the 39:58 mark, and the Spartans were forced to play with 10 on the field for the rest of the game.
Houston Baptist got second half goals in the 57th minute and two in the 69th minute. The goals in the 69th minute came 23 second apart.
Nine players accounted for the 11 shots for San José State. Frankie Beauchamp and Sam Croucher lead with a pair of attempts each. The Spartans' shots on goal came from Enrique Montano and Dylan West.
Five different Huskies scored goals. Mark Gendi led HBU with four shots.
Emmanuel Espinosa made four saves in the loss, while Kevin Suarez stopped both shots that reached the Huskies goal line.
SCOUTING INCARNATE WORD
The Cardinals enter the week with an overall record of 3-6-0, 2-0-0 in WAC play. Last week they defeated Houston Baptist 2-0 in Houston, Texas.
This will be the first meeting between these two programs.
Junior midfielder Noah Keats has a team-high five goals and 13 points. Alex De La Garza, a senior midfielder, and Dylan Kelly, a junior forward, have scored three and two goals, respectively.
Junior keeper Keiran O'Boyle has made seven starts in eight appearances. He has surrendered 11 goals for a GAA of 1.36, while stopping 25 (.694 save%). His record is 3-5-0 and he has two shutouts.
Head Coach Vince Martinez is in his fourth season leading the Cardinals, in this the program's first in Division I. In his first year at the Division I level he compiled a 6-8-1 record.