Nov. 4, 2014
San Jose, Calif. - With two matches left in the regular season and having already qualified for the WAC Championship Tournament, the San José State men's soccer team plays for seeding this week as they host Seattle U on Friday and Utah Valley on Sunday. Sunday's game will also be Senior Day for five Spartans.
San José State (6-8-2, 4-2-2 WAC)
vs. Seattle U (10-5-1, 5-2-1 WAC)
Friday, November 7, 2014, 2:30 p.m.
Spartan Soccer Field - San Jose, Calif.
Live stats and streaming video are available for free at www.sjsuspartans.com
vs. Utah Valley (7-6-2, 3-3-2 WAC)
Sunday, November 9, 2014, 1:00 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).
TIME CHANGE FOR SEATTLE U MATCH
With the clocks being rolled back one hour last weekend its getting darker earlier. With no lights at Spartan Soccer Field, the match with Seattle U, which was originally scheduled for 3:00 p.m. has been moved up an half hour to 2:30 p.m..
QUALIFIED FOR THE WAC TOURNAMENT...CHECK, SEEDING...TBA
With four points earned last weekend, the Spartans have secured their spot in the 2014 WAC Tournament which begins November 13, in Seattle, Wash.
Seeding for the tournament is all that is left to be decided. The Spartans enter the week as the third seed, two points behind Seattle U and five behind UNLV, which sits at the top of the table.
With wins in each of its games over the weekend the Spartans will, at worst, move in to the second seed and in combination with a UNLV loss would grab the top seed. The top two seeds earn a bye in the tournament and have to win two rather than three matches to earn the conference's automatic bid.
SENIOR DAY
On Sunday, five San José State seniors, defenders Andrew Kelly (Sr., D, Darlington, England), Andy Moya (Sr., D, Gilroy, Calif.) and Frankie Beauchamp (Sr., D, San Francisco, Calif.) & midfielders Jamison Loveless (Sr., MF, Boise, Idaho) and Enrique Montano (Sr., MF, Salinas, Calif.) will play their final game on home turf.
A ceremony to honor the five will take place approximately 10 minutes prior to the scheduled 1:00 p.m. kickoff against Utah Valley on Sunday.
GAINING MOMENTUM AT THE RIGHT TIME
San José State opened conference play with a 1-5 drubbing at CSU Bakersfield. Since that game the side has a 3-1-2 record, including going 2-0-2 on the road.
They have outscored their opponents 13-5 in the seven-game stretch and have not allowed more than a single goal in any game.
OFFENSE IS BACK
Through 16 games the Spartans have scored 26 goals, fourth most in the WAC. In 2013 the side scored a total if 18 goals in 21 games. This year's edition reached the 18-goal mark in 10 games. In addition, San José State has 72 points to date. Last year the team totaled 47 points, again in 2014 the team reached that total in its first 10 games.
At its current pace, San José State would end the regular season on 30 goals and 86 points. The last time a Spartan men's soccer team scored as many as 30 goals in a season was in 2009 and the last time it reached at least 86 points was in 2007 (94).
SEEING DOUBLE
Three players in the WAC have multiple multi-goal games in 2014..two of them are Spartans. Greg Harte (Fr., F, Cork, Ireland) has done it three times; vs. Pacific (9/19), at Air Force (10/10) and most recently against CSU Bakersfield (10/26). Harte is tied with CSUB's Julian Zamora for the most multi-goal games in the league this year.
Rory Knibbs (So., F, London, England) has two multi-goal games in 2014. He recorded a hat-trick against UMass (9/2) and then had two goals at Air Force (10/10).
Knibbs and Harte each scored twice at Air Force (10/10). It's the only game, among WAC teams this season, in which two or more players on a side scored multiple goals in the same game.
COLUNGA TOPS WAC FEEDERS
Johnathan Colunga (So. MF, Lindsay, Calif.) has eight assists in 15 games this season (0.53/game average). Both the eight assists and 0.53 assists per game are tops in the WAC through nine weeks of competition.
Nationally, Colunga ranks ninth with his 0.53 assists per game and 10th in total assist (8).
At his current pace, he would end the regular season with 10 assists and become just the fifth Spartan to reach double-digit assists in a season since 1990. The last to reach the milestone in assists for SJSU was Lars Lyssand. He had 10 in the 2001 season.
KNIBBS AND NOW HARTE AMONG THE NATIONS BEST
With eight goals this season, Rory Knibbs (So., F, London, England) and Greg Harte (Fr., F, Cork, Ireland) rank as two of the most dangerous strikers in the WAC and the nation.
The pair are tied for second in the conference in goals and Knibbs' 18 points are three behind the league leader. Nationally they rank 34th in total goals.
ONE...TWO...THREE PUNCH
Spartan strikers Rory Knibbs (So., F, London, England) and Greg Harte (Fr., F, Cork, Ireland) have become one of the most dangerous scoring duos in the WAC in 2014. When you add in midfielder Johnathan Colunga (So, MF, Lindsay, Calif.) the duo goes to a trio.
In conference play, Harte is tied for the goal scoring lead with five tallies and Knibbs is right behind him with four.
Colunga ranks second in the league play with five assists.
SPARTANS CONTINUE 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 16 matches, the Spartans have only been booked 15 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 eight matches of conference action, San José State has only been booked seven times.
The team ranks fifth 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 213 fouls through 16 matches. That's 46 fewer fouls committed than through 16 games last year.
SCOUTING SEATTLE U
The Redhawks enter the week with an overall record of 10-5-1, 5-2-1 in WAC play and in second place. Last week they won a pair of road games, their first of the year. Seattle U defeated Houston Baptist 3-1, and Incarnate Word 3-0. On the road this year the team is 2-3-1.
This will be the 15th meeting all-time between these programs with the Spartans holding an 8-3-3 advantage in the all-time series. The teams faced off three times last year with Seattle winning each time including a 2-1 win in the championship game of the 2013 WAC Tournament.
Hamza Haddadi, a junior forward, leads the team with six goals and 14 points. Senior forward Brady Ballew has four tallies and an assists for nine points. A total of 11 players have scored goals for the Redhawks this year.
Shane Haworth has played every minute in goal for Seattle U. He has allowed 20 goals (1.22 GAA) and made 79 saves (.798 save%). His record is 10-5-1 and he as eight clean sheets.
Head Coach Peter Fewing is in his 20th season leading the Redhawks program. Entering 2014 he had a Division I record of 14-22-5 and an overall record of 234-147-11.
LAST TIME AGAINST SEATTLE U (10/4/14)
Colorado Springs, Colo. - Ben Cowdrill gave the San Jose State men's soccer team a 1-0 lead in the first half, but a pair of second half goals by the Seattle Redhawks sent them to the NCAA Tournament and brought the Spartans season to a close in the WAC Tournament's championship match.
At the 28:24 mark, Cowdrill, a freshman from Leamington Spa, England, hammered home a free kick from 25 yards out, to stake sixth seed San José State to a 1-0 lead. Despite being out shot in the half, 10-to-6, the Spartans took the one goal advantage into the half.
SCOUTING UTAH VALLEY
The Wolverines enter the week with an overall record of 7-6-2, 3-3-2 in WAC play and would be the fifth seed in the WAC Championship Tournament were it to start today. Last week they hosted Incarnate Word (1-1 draw) and Houston Baptist (3-0 win). Utah Valley plays at CSU Bakersfield on Friday ahead of the match up with the Spartans on Sunday. The Wolverines are 1-4-0 on the road this year.
This will be the first meeting between these two programs.
Matt Gay, a freshman forward, has six goals and four assists for a team-leading 16 points. Karson Payton, also a freshman forward, has scored four times and assisted on four others.
Freshman Keeper Collin Partee has played the vast majority of the minutes (1263:44) in goal for Utah Valley. He has allowed 11 past his line for a GAA of 0.78, while stopping 56 (.836 save%). His record is 6-5-2 and he has two shutouts.
Head Coach George Maas is in his first season leading the Wolverines program and his first as a collegiate head coach.