Sept. 20, 2015
San Diego, Calif. â€" The San José State men's soccer team made its second foray to southern California on Sunday and despite playing well, came out on the short end of a 2-0 decision at the University of San Diego.
"We played alright," head coach Simon Tobin said after the game. "The defining moment of this game came on a bad goal in the first half. (San Diego) is a more mature and disciplined team, all over the field. Against a team like that you can't make that kind of mistake."
In the 20th minute, Toreros keeper Thomas Olsen booted the ball to just beyond midfield. It came down between Spartan defenders Eddie Saydee and Kyle O'Mahoney, but neither made concerted effort at it. O'Mahoney finally chose to send it back to keeper Emmanuel Espinoza, but his pass attempt made it barely to the top of the 18.
The short pass forced Espinoza to charge off his line to try and make a play. He arrived at the ball split second after USD's Marvin Schmiege, who with a single touch was past him and shot it into the open goal for a 1-0 lead which they maintained into halftime.
The Toreros (4-2-2) outshot the Spartans 6-to-3 in the first 45 minutes. Alex Alcaraz took two shots and Carlos Valdovinos the other. All three attempts were on frame, but turned away by Olsen. For USD, six players took a single shot, with the Schmiege tally being one of two on goal.
In the second half, with the Spartans (2-4-0) still chasing the equalizer, the team generated several dangerous chances, but couldn't crack the Toreros defense. They attempted four shots putting two on frame. USD pressed its advantage and produced nine shots putting six of those on goal.
Espinoza, who made six saves on the night, turned away three point blank shots before Eric Budniewski put the game away in the 87th minute.
The Spartans have been held scoreless in four games and 360 minutes on the road this year. Away from Spartan Soccer Field, where they have scored six goals in two matches, they have been outscored 8-0.
"Aside from game at Pacific, where we just plain played terrible, LMU, Stanford and this team present as tough a road test as you could ask for," Tobin said. "We're a young team and this is a bit of a learning process. These games, while we didn't get the result we hoped for, will make us a better team when we get to WAC play."
For the game the Toreros outshot SJSU 15-to-7, including 8-to-5 in shots on goal. The Spartans were led by Alcaraz's two first half attempts. Rory Knibbs, Zach Penner, Eric Mendez, Valdovinos and Luis Vargas produced one shot each.
USD had three players with three shots each led by Budniewski who had the tally in the 87th minute. In goal, Olsen made five saves.
San José State will get back to action on Friday, September 25 at UC Riverside. Kickoff against the Highlanders is set for 7:00 p.m.
San Jose State (2-4-0) vs. San Diego (4-2-2)
Date: Sep 20, 2015 Attendance: 298
Goals by period 1 2 Tot
-------------------------------
San Jose State...... 0 0 - 0
San Diego........... 1 1 - 2
SCORING SUMMARY:
- 19:31 USD SCHMIEGE, Marvin (3) (unassisted) - lose ball controlled by 10, one touch past keeper and into goal
- 86:09 USD BUDNIEWSKI, Eric (1) (SCHMIEGE, Marvin) - one-timmer off cross in box
Shots: San Jose State 7, San Diego 15
Saves: San Jose State 6 (Espinoza, Emmanuel 6), San Diego 5
(OLSEN,Thomas 5)