Sept. 28, 2017
San Jose, Calif.--- San José State freshman Jacob Mercep has earned Golden Coast Conference Player of the Week honors for his play during the 16-team MPSF Invitational.
"We knew Jacob was going to be an impact player," said Spartan head coach Bruce Watson. "We are really excited to have some early success from him."
At the MPSF tournament, Mercep led the field with 22 goals in four games. Mercep scored six goals against No.2 USC, No.7 UCSB, and No.19 Pomona-Pitzer. In the last match of the invitational, he scored four times against Air Force.
The six goals Mercep scored against USC are the most goals the Trojans has given up to a single player since Pacific's, Balazs Erdelyi, scored seven on December, 8 2013. Balazs was on the 2016 Hungarian National Team that participated in the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Jacob Mercep is the first Spartan to win GGC player of the week honors. This season, he has accumulated 47 points through nine games played. He has racked up 37 goals, 10 assists, and 10 steals.
The Spartans posted a 2-2 record in the tournament. This was the Spartans best record in program history at the MPSF Invitational. The team earned wins over No.19 Pomona-Pitzer and Airforce, but lost to No.2 USC, and No.7 UCSB.
"The team has matured and gotten better," said Coach Watson. "The team is playing well, and hopefully we keep getting better. It is great to see us move up the ranks, but our goal is to grow and improve each day."
The Spartans are ranked No.18 heading into their match Saturday in Stanford, Calif. at 11:00 a.m. against the No.4 Cardinal.