San José, Calif. – Often described as a game of luck and fortune, the San José State men's soccer team saw too many bounces and near misses go against it in Thursday's match at San Francisco.
Despite having as many shots on goal and earning twice as many corners, the Spartans ultimately fell in a 3-0 defeat to the Dons. The match marked an end to a frantic stretch of five contests in less than two weeks for the club.
"Obviously you want to win every game but everything right now is building up to the start of conference play," said head coach Simon Tobin after the match. "Out job and goal is to win the conference and having a schedule like this will help us get there."
Facing one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country, SJSU has already played three road matches, two NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago, and the No. 8 team in the nation. It will also face 3-0-1 UC Davis and No. 3 Stanford before WAC play kicks off.
Focus ?? Forward
— San José State Men's Soccer (@SanJoseStateMS) September 13, 2019
Head coach Simon Tobin on his team's main goal for the season. pic.twitter.com/ubAEBSxMQb
The hosts withstood some early pressure from San José State as the side came out with an attacking mindset. Junior midfielders Nicolas Brenes and Danny Sanchez each got off great looks within a 40-second span in the match's eighth minute but both were kept out of the net.
8' - CHANCE! @dopedanny0 nearly nets his second in as many matches here in the early going. #USFvSJSU | 0-0 pic.twitter.com/8g0Wh6ifJj
— San José State Men's Soccer (@SanJoseStateMS) September 13, 2019
The Spartans ended the evening with 12 shots and were led by defender Jamal Adam and midfielder Max Allen, each taking three shots a piece. Both clubs finished the match with six shots on frame.
Fighting hard until the end, Adam put a trio of dangerous shots into the box in the final 11 minutes. None of the strong attempts were able to get past the San Francisco keeper, however, sealing the deal on a 3-0 victory for the hosts at Negoesco Stadium.
SJSU now looks forward to such much-needed rest ahead of its penultimate non-conference match.
"We have a little bit of a break now," Tobin said while looking ahead. "We don't play again for another nine days and I think we'll be fine after that."
The break will come to an end on Saturday, September 21 when the club welcomes UC Davis into the Spartan Soccer Complex. While San José State will be coming off an eight-day break, the Aggies will have played three matches in that time span.
Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. against UC Davis and the match will be streamed live on the WAC Digital Network.