San Antonio, Texas – Completing one of the best in-season turnarounds in program history, San José State has clinched a berth in the 2019 WAC Tournament with one week still remaining in the regular season.
The Spartans earned the spot with a 2-1 victory at Incarnate Word, improving to 5-10-2 (5-3-2 WAC) after dropping their first seven matches of the year.
"We had to dig in today," said head coach Simon Tobin. "It was a tough road trip but we got some breaks despite not being at our best. Our aim was to make the WAC Tournament and we accomplished that with a week still to go."
They accomplished the feat with two early goals, jumping out to a 2-0 advantage before hanging on for the victory.
It was the WAC's leader in conference goals who drew first blood in this one. Forward Rodolfo Castro was able to collect a perfect pass in space from defender Omar Lemus, firing a laser past the outstretched Cardinals keeper to put his club on top in the match's 19th minute.
19' - Goooooooaaaaaaaallllllllll
— San José State Men's Soccer (@SanJoseStateMS) November 3, 2019
The @WACsports leader in conference goals buries a laser as Rodolfo Castro puts us on top in San Antone! #UIWvSJSU | 0-1 pic.twitter.com/zb7iJvNNLn
Castro has now tallied nine goals and a pair of assists on the 2019 campaign.
SJSU didn't waste much time adding to its ledger on a sunny Sunday afternoon in San Antonio. This time it was midfielder Carlos Gomez-Zavala, tallying his first goal of the season by rebounding a Castro miss in the 39th minute.
Gomez-Zavala is the only Spartan to start in all 17 matches this year, spending a team-high 1447 minutes on the pitch.
Freshman keeper David Sweeney was nails all second half as the home team attacked the visitors from Silicon Valley with a barrage of shots. Sweeney would go on to end the day with six saves to seal the deal on the road result.
Single saves aren't cool.
— San José State Men's Soccer (@SanJoseStateMS) November 3, 2019
You know what is cool? Double saves. pic.twitter.com/ZlL3DW4ryZ
San José State extended its unbeaten streak to four matches with the victory, earning three wins and one draw in that stretch.
The club now has five days off before returning to the pitch for Saturday's regular-season finale at Seattle University. Kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m. in Seattle against the first-place Redhawks.