Nov. 7, 2017
Las Vegas, Nev.----- Defenders Andy Rios, Omar Lemus and Jeff Dukes, forward Jeremy Romero and midfielder Max Allen were named to the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) all-conference teams during the conference's pre-tournament banquet.
Rios, a junior from Chowchilla, Calif., was a second-team All-WAC choice. Romero, a junior from Hercules, Calif., and Dukes, a sophomore from Vacaville, Calif., were honorable mention selections. Allen, from Liverpool, England, and Lemus, from San Jose, were named to the All-Freshman team.
Three of the five San Jose State honorees occupy the Spartans' backline. Rios was in the middle anchoring a defense that came up with four conference shutout wins in the final six contests to qualify for the seven-team WAC Tournament as the #4-seed. He was named the WAC Defensive Player of the Week after a pair of blank sheets at Houston Baptist, 1-0, and at Incarnate Word, 2-0, two days later.
Dukes, like Rios and Romero, was a starter in all 18 regular-season matches. He led the team in minutes played with 1,611. Romero was the team's top goal scorer with nine. Four of his goals came in the 10-match conference season. Twice, he had two-goal matches in wins against non-conference opponent Saint Mary's and UMKC in the next-to-last regular season contest.
Allen started in 17 games and led the team in assists with three. Lemus had two assists during the season.
San Jose State (7-10-1) is the #4-seed in the WAC Tournament. The Spartans take on #5-seed UTRGV (7-6-3) in the quarterfinal round match, Wednesday, November 8, at 1:00 p.m. on the Peter Johann Field on the UNLV campus. The winner advances to a semifinal match-up with regular-season champion Air Force (14-1-2) on Friday, November 10.