THE SCHEDULE: San José State remains on the road to round out its three-match road trip, taking to Seattle to face Seattle University on Saturday afternoon. Kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m. at Championship Field.
FOLLOW ALONG: Saturday's match will be streamed on the WAC Digital Network with Andrew Harvey and Arne Klubberud on the call. Live stats will be available and you can follow every San José State men's soccer game live on Twitter, @SanJoseStateMS.
FIRST TOUCHES:
- 10 different players (Rodolfo Castro, Nicolas Brenes, Danny Sanchez, Suliman Khorami, Angel Farias, Omar Lemus, Carlos Gomez-Zavala, Eduardo Buenfil, Willy Miranda and Jeff Dukes) have scored a goal this season.
- Castro leads the team in goals (9), points (20), shots (52) and shots on goal (29) in 16 appearances.
- All 11 Spartan starters in Sunday's match at Incarnate Word were Northern California products. The bunch was able to earn the team's first road victory of the season.
- San José State clinched a berth in next week's WAC Tournament with Sunday's 2-1 victory at Incarnate Word. The trip to the postseason will be the team's third in the past three years (have advanced to the final in each of its previous two trips).
- Freshman goalkeeper David Sweeney enjoyed a stretch of over 380 minutes without allowing a goal over the last two weeks of competition. Sweeney has recorded four shutout victories in his first year on campus and was named the WAC Defensive Player of the Week back on Oct. 28.
- SJSU's scoreless draw at UTRGV on Friday was the program's first since earning a 0-0 result at three-time defending national champion and No. 1 Stanford on Aug. 24, 2018.
- Saturday's meeting between San José State and Seattle University will be the 22nd all-time between the two programs and the first since the clubs played to a thrilling 3-3 draw (SJSU 6-5 on PKs) in the first round of last year's WAC Tournament.
- In available records, the Spartans boast a record of 27-30-6 in regular season finale matches.
POSTSEASON PICTURE:
- While currently in fifth place on the WAC table, San José State could move up to as high as the No. 3 seed after Decision Day on Saturday. The Spartans (17 points) are currently one point behind the two teams tied for third (Air Force and CSU Bakersfield).
- An SJSU victory combined with anything less than a win for both the Falcons and Roadrunners would move the team into the No. 3 seed.
- In addition, an SJSU draw combined with a loss for both Air Force and CSU Bakersfield would move the team into the No. 3 seed.
SWEENEY HONORED: Goalkeeper David Sweeney was named the Western Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week for Oct. 21-27. Sweeney was strong in net to help lead the Spartans to a pair of shutout victories.
NATIONAL STATISTICS UPDATE:
- San José State ranks No. 4 nationally and first in the WAC in shot accuracy (.521), narrowly trailing national-leader Harvard (.543). Forward Rodolfo Castro is slotted at No. 37 in the country and second in the conference in the category with a .538 average.
- The Spartans are currently No. 17 nationally in shots on goal per game at a clip of 6.65 per match. Castro (1.75 per game) ranks 21st in the country.
- SJSU has gotten the job done on the defensive pitch as well. The team ranks No. 43 nationally in saves per game (4.41), with freshman goalkeeper David Sweeney slotted at No. 13 with an average of 5.00.
SCOUTING SEATTLE UNIVERSITY:
- Saturday's match will be the 22nd all-time meeting between San José State and Seattle University.
- The Spartans have played the Redhawks nine times in Seattle, earning a result in six of those matches.
- The Redhawks hold a record of 12-3-3 (9-0-1 WAC) entering Saturday's match and have already clinched the conference's regular-season title. The club last hit the pitch over the weekend at UTRGV, earning a 1-0 victory in Edinburg. The visit from SJSU will serve as their regular season finale as well.
- Seattle University finished the 2018 campaign with a 13-6-1 record, its season coming to an end at the hands of San José State in the first round of the WAC Tournament up at Championship Field.
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 entering the 2019 campaign ranked 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.
ROAD WARRIORS:
- San José State will finish the regular season playing six of its final eight matches on the road, embarking on a pair of three-game road trips across five different states.
- The Spartans have impressed away from home recently, posting an 12-12-6 record in their last 30 matches played outside of the Spartan Soccer Complex.
THIS YEAR'S SLATE:
- The Spartans seven non-conference opponents represent three different conferences (Big West, WCC, Pac-12).
- Two of SJSU's matches this year (No. 1 Stanford, No. 8 Saint Mary's) came against opponents ranked in the United Soccer Coaches Poll.
SPARTANS IN THE NEWS: Be sure to bookmark our clips and links page for all of the latest San José State men's soccer coverage.
SOCIAL MEDIA: The men's soccer program can be found on both Twitter (@SanJoseStateMS) and Instagram (@sanjosestatems). Give both a follow for a behind the scenes look at the team!