A quick look at the stats tells the story of how much of an impact Paige Simoneau has made for the San Jose State women's soccer program in the last four seasons. Thrust into the fire early as a freshman, Simoneau was twice called off the bench to handle penalty kicks in the 2015 Mountain West Championship. She responded by making a pair of saves in the semifinal and one in the championship match to help the Spartans to their first Mountain West title and a place in the NCAA Tournament. For her efforts, Simoneau was named Mountain West Tournament Most Valuable Player.
Four years later, Simoneau's impact is still resonating as a senior. The Corona, California product has had a season to remember in the net and is breaking records seemingly every week – most of which were held by her predecessor, friend and current goalkeepers coach, Zoe Makrigiannis.
"She comes up to me and apologizes every time that she breaks one of my records," Makrigiannis said. "I'm excited for her, but she feels bad…but not really."
Simoneau broke Makrigiannis' single-season school record in overall shutouts (10) and conference shutouts (8). Her eight conference shutouts also ranks as the most in Mountain West history and her goals against average of 0.63 is another school record.
Career-wise, Simoneau has racked up 20 shutouts to break Makrigiannis' school record of 17 and boasts a goals against average of 0.85, by far the best in school history.
"Honestly I was just trying to have some fun and take in all the memories," Simoneau said. "Records, scores and results weren't on my mind. I think that comes from (head coach Lauren Hanson) as well. She doesn't really care as long as we are having fun and just giving it our all."
With Simoneau in the net, the Spartans Defense has been remarkable all season long, leading the Mountain West in goals against average overall (0.63) and in league play (0.43). In six conference wins, SJSU conceded just one goal and allowed 6.3 shots per game for a GAA of 0.17. Their eight Mountain West shutouts are the most in conference history.
In Simoneau's time as a Spartan, she has helped SJSU to a pair of conference titles in 2015 (championship tournament) and 2017 (regular season). She has a chance at a third this week as the Spartans face No. 1 seed Boise State in the Mountain West Championship semifinal Thursday at the Spartan Soccer Complex. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. PT.
