THE SCHEDULE
The 2021 Spartans hit the pitch for the first time with a pair of exhibition matches against California and San Francisco. The Golden Bears come calling to Spartan Soccer Complex on Sunday at 7:00 p.m. before the team travels up the Bay to face the Dons on Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. Sunday's match will mark the first with supporters in attendance at Spartan Soccer Complex in 658 days.
TICKETS
Individual match tickets 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).
FOLLOW ALONG
Live stats will be available for each contest and you can follow every San José State men's soccer match live on Twitter, @SanJoseStateMS.
AN SJSU WIN WOULD
- Mark the program's second straight victory in exhibition contests (1-0 vs. Holy Cross in 2019)
- Be better than a loss
CORNER KICKS
- Forward Rudi Castro and defender Kasper Poulsgaard led the Spartans with 800 minutes on the pitch last season. Both are back for the 2021 campaign.
- Castro also topped the team in shots (28), points (20), shots on goal (16), assists (10) and goals (5) a season ago.
- Eight of the 11 starters in SJSU's last match came from Northern California high schools.
- San José State has advanced to the postseason for four straight seasons (have qualified for the title match in two of those trips).
- Senior Willy Miranda completed the program's first hat trick since Sept. 4, 2015 (Rory Knibbs vs. Sacramento State) with his three-goal outing at California Baptist last season.
BEST IN 21 YEARS
San José State's 5-1-3 record on the 2020-21 campaign marked the program's best season since 2000 (finished 20-1-1).
ROAD WARRIORS
The Spartans ended the 2020-21 season 3-0-1 in away matches. That marked the first year since 2005 (5-0-1) that the program completed a regular season unbeaten on the road.
DROPPING DIMES
San José State's 29 assists in nine matches had the team ranked No. 2 nationally in assists per match at the end of the 2020-21 season.
1st. Oakland (4.22)
2nd. San José State (3.22)
3rd. Oregon State (3.07)
RUDI, RUDI, RUDI
After leading the team in goals in his first year with the Spartans, senior Rudi Castro dished out 10 assists in his second season. That mark had the San José native ranked third nationally in the category. Castro was just one assist away from becoming the first Spartan in 21 years to crack the top-10 on SJSU's single-season passing list.
1st. Noah Jensen (Oakland) - 14
2nd. Charlie Ostrem (Washington) - 11
3rd. Rudi Castro (San José State) - 10
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
The Spartans have put together a challenging slate to prepare them for WAC play after not getting the opportunity to schedule non-conference opponents a season ago. SJSU will hit the road for four away matches outside of league action, beginning Aug. 26 at CSU Bakersfield. It will also face a stretch of three consecutive contests against teams that received votes in the national preseason polls, hosting UC Davis on Sept. 5 before traveling to No. 8 Stanford and Saint Mary's.
SEVEN STRAIGHT
The Spartans are currently enjoying a seven-match unbeaten streak, the program's longest since its stretch of eight straight results in 2009.
7TH HEAVEN
Seven Spartans received All-WAC accolades at the completion of last season and all seven are back for the 2021 campaign. Max Allen and Rudi Castro were named first team All-WAC while Willy Miranda received second team honors. Joel Garcia was named to the WAC All-Freshman team and Carlos Gomez-Zavala, Kasper Poulsgaard and David Sweeney all received honorable mention All-WAC recognition. The program's seven honorees was the most for SJSU since the 2005 team had 10 student-athletes make the MPSF all-conference teams. In addition, it marked the first time since 2015 (Rory Knibbs and Jonathan Colunga) that multiple Spartans received first-team recognition.
BEST DEFENSE IN SCHOOL HISTORY
The 2020-21 Spartans surrendered just 11 goals on the season, setting a program record for fewest goals allowed. The previous low of 13 was set on the 1968, 1973 and 2000 campaigns.
ATTACKING SOCCER IS FUN SOCCER
In addition to its record-setting defensive numbers, SJSU showed impressive balance as it scored in each one of its matches on the 2020-21 season. That was the first San José State team to accomplish the feat since the 1981 Spartans tallied at least one goal in each of their 20 contests.
SIMON SAYS
- 2021 marks the eighth season at the helm in San José for head coach Simon Tobin (spent previous 27 years at CSU Bakersfield).
- His 348 career victories entering the 2021 season ranks No. 10 in all of Division I among active coaches.
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!