By Gerardo Gonzalez @GerardoG209 -Soccer Beat Reporter
San Jose State men’s soccer (7-3-2, 3-0-1 WAC) defeated Utah Tech (3-9-2, 1-3-2 WAC) 2-0 on Sunday afternoon to extend its winning streak and remain unbeaten in conference.
Lately, the Spartans have been known to start the first half on the right foot, and this game was no exception. Graduate midfielder Herminio Padilla opened up the score 1-0 in the eighth minute. It would be Padilla’s first goal of the season.
For the remainder of the first half, SJSU would have control of the game however, the artificial field started to affect the dynamic flow of the game. Both sides of the pitch featured only four shots in total, missed passes, and zero saves.
Utah Tech would come out in the second half looking more confident. This newfound confidence created more opportunities with six shots and made SJSU senior goalkeeper David Sweeney work for his clean sheet.
However, the pressure from the home side was not effective as in the 80th minute, junior forward Ryota Nakashima found freshman midfielder Angel Iniguez as he curled one in with his left foot to put the Spartans up 2-0.
The Bisons fought to the very end, while the Spartans were effective when they needed to be. SJSU had the same amount of shots in the second half as its opponent, but with two in the back of the net.
Sweeney would get his fourth clean sheet of the season and his side would leave Utah with the three points.
SJSU head coach Simon Tobin had a few words after the team’s four game winning streak.
“It was a great result on the road and a very good weekend for us. Credit to Utah Tech, they played a great game and had a couple of chances that they could have put away. Playing on Sunday on the road is always quite difficult but we scored two quality goals to get us the win.”
San Jose State will return home and play its next game against California Baptist University on Oct. 21 at 7 p.m.