THE SCHEDULE: The San José State men's soccer team will continue to battle a challenging non-conference slate over the next few days, hitting the road to face rival Santa Clara before returning to the Spartan Soccer Complex to host No. 8 Saint Mary's. The Spartans will meet the Broncos on Friday, September 6 at 7:30 p.m. prior to taking on the Gaels at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, September 9.
FOLLOW ALONG: Friday's match will be streamed on the WCC Network while Monday's game will air live on the WAC Digital Network with Daniel Barrera on the call. Live stats will be available for both contests and you can follow every San José State men's soccer game live on Twitter, @SanJoseStateMS.
TICKETS: Individual game tickets to regular season matches are on sale now via Ticketmaster charge-by-phone at (800) 745-3000 or online at Ticketmaster.com. Youth tickets are available for $5, with adult tickets on sale for $8. Group ticket inquiries should be made to (408) 924-SJTX (7589).
CHURROS: The program will be celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month on Monday night at the Spartan Soccer Complex. Be sure to arrive early as the first 100 fans will receive free churros.
SIMON SAYS:
- "We're looking forward to playing Santa Clara on Friday as the crosstown rivalry always adds a little spice to the encounter," says head coach Simon Tobin. "The Broncos are always a tough opponent, especially on their field, and we expect another tight game."
- "We host Saint Mary's on Monday, the only team in all of Division I to finish last season unbeaten," Tobin says. "Many coaches have picked them to have a College Cup caliber squad for 2019. Their last loss came two years ago and this match will offer an insight into how we measure up against an elite program this season."
FIRST TOUCHES:
- Junior transfer Rodolfo Castro tallied the team's first goal of the year on Tuesday, a 44th minute free kick at Pacific.
- Defender Eddie Saydee and goalkeeper Rodrigo Reyes-Zavalza have been on the pitch for all 184 minutes of the 2019 season.
- Castro and midfielder Max Allen each lead the team with seven shots a piece through two matches. Castro has put three of the shots on goal to Allen's two.
- Allen was named to the All-WAC Preseason Team last month.
- Allen and juniors Omar Lemus and Willy Miranda are also back for the Spartans after earning All-WAC honors a year ago.
- Lemus led the Spartans in both goals (six) and assists (four) as a sophomore in 2018. He enters the 2019 campaign with 18 career points.
SCOUTING SANTA CLARA:
- San José State has played Santa Clara 64 times in program history, leading the all-time series with a record of 30-28-6.
- This will be the first regular season meeting between the two teams since the 2016 season.
- SCU enters Friday's match with a 1-1 record. The club shutout Holy Cross for a 3-0 victory in its season opener before falling to Missouri State by a score of 1-0.
- The Broncos finished the 2018 campaign with a 5-10-2 record.
SCOUTING SAINT MARY'S:
- San José State is 20-13-2 all-time vs. Saint Mary's with the last victory coming in 2017 (2-0).
- Spartan great Jeremy Romero tallied both goals in that one while goalkeeper Alex Clewis ended the contest with a clean sheet.
- The Gaels are currently ranked No. 8 nationally, owning a 2-0 record after the first week of play. The two victories came in shutout fashion over No. 25 UC Irvine (2-0) and Omaha (4-0).
- They will play one more game in Moraga prior to making the trip to San José, hosting Grand Canyon on Friday at 7:00 p.m.
- SJSU's last match against a top-10 opponent came in last year's season opener, where the Spartans earned a 0-0 draw on the road against No. 1 and three-time defending national champion Stanford.
- Saint Mary's finished the 2018 campaign undefeated, rolling to a record of 18-0-2 before being eliminated in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
TOBIN'S TEAM:
- 2019 marks the sixth season at the helm in San José for Tobin, who joined the Spartans after spending the previous 27 seasons as the head coach at CSU Bakersfield.
- Tobin is a native of London, England, graduating from Nonington College in 1983.
- His 338 career victories ranks No. 10 in all of Division I among active coaches.
- Postseason success has been a staple of Tobin's time in San José as the Spartans have made the Western Athletic Conference title match in both the 2017 and 2018 seasons.
- He has continued to turn out some of the top talent in the conference year in and year out, placing a total of 15 players on the All-Western Athletic Conference Team throughout his tenure.
THE STAFF:
- San José State's coaching staff features three men who each saw success in their collegiate playing days at universities throughout the state.
- Jonathan Lester is a Spartan alumnus and ranks No. 4 on the program's all time saves list with a dominant 225 in just three years.
- Jesus Sanchez played for Tobin at CSU Bakersfield, finishing his four seasons there with 16 goals and 27 assists while compiling a record of 40-22-15.
- Nic Ryan rounds out the staff as a volunteer assistant coach. He played collegiately at UC Santa Barbara, reaching the NCAA Tournament three times in four years with the Gauchos.
- Lester is in his third year on staff with the Spartans, while both Sanchez and Ryan came aboard prior to the start of the 2018 season.
FRESH FACES:
- San José State's 2019 roster features 12 newcomers, nine of which are freshmen.
- 10 of the 12 newcomers hail from California, bringing the team's total to 24 in-state products.
BETTER KNOW A SPARTAN:
- SJSU was one of five teams to receive a first-place vote in the WAC Preseason Poll. The defending WAC Championship runner-up finished sixth in the poll of the conference coaches.
- Tobin has taken the program to back-to-back WAC title match appearances. This year's conference tournament is scheduled for November 13-17 in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
- The San José State squad features a trio of European players in the form of freshman Kasper Poulsgaard, sophomore Finlay Wood and junior Max Allen. Poulsgaard hails from Denmark, while Wood and Allen come to San José from Wales and England, respectively.
- The Spartans will face five NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago in 2019, with both Saint Mary's (September 9) and Air Force (October 27) coming to the Spartan Soccer Complex.
- Senior Jeff Dukes has gotten the job done both on the field and in the classroom, earning Academic All-WAC recognition last season. It was the second such award for Dukes in his collegiate career.
- SJSU prepared for the regular season with a pair of serviceable exhibition matches. The club played a 110-minute friendly at California before returning home and defeating Holy Cross.
THIS YEAR'S SLATE:
- Three of San José State's seven non-conference matches will be hosted at the Spartan Soccer Complex.
- The Spartans seven non-conference opponents represent three different conferences (Big West, WCC, Pac-12).
- Three of SJSU's matches this year (No. 4 Stanford, No. 8 Saint Mary's, No. 25 Air Force) will come against opponents ranked in the latest United Soccer Coaches Poll.
SOCIAL MEDIA: The men's soccer program can be found on both Twitter (@SanJoseStateMS) and Instagram (@sanjosestatems). Be sure to follow for a behind the scenes look at the team.