Gerardo Gonzalez (@GerardoG209) – Soccer Beat Reporter
San Jose State men’s soccer (8-5-3, WAC 4-2-2) lost on the road 1-0 against Grand Canyon University (7-6-3, WAC 4-2-2) on Sunday afternoon.
The Spartans came off a highly contested match against Air Force, but had no issue starting the match with the same high intensity.
Both teams looked to find opportunities to open the scoring with nine shots in total throughout the first 40 minutes.
GCU senior forward Cameron Weller scored in the 41st minute thanks to an assist by senior forward Shaun Joash to put his team up front, 1-0.
In the second half, the Spartans continued to move the ball well as they tried to create opportunities to get on the board with seven more shots on goal.
Sophomore goalkeeper Leon Schmidt came up big throughout the match with six saves, allowing the Lopes to stay in front.
Despite GCU only having a single shot on goal in the last 45 minutes, it was enough to secure the three points as SJSU did not do enough to save a point.
Things got chippy at the end of the match as the 24 fouls and nine yellow cards of the match carried into the postgame.
Refs and coaches separated players after lots of pushing and shoving between both teams and they walked into the locker rooms.
With this result, GCU clinches its spot into the WAC tournament while SJSU falls to fourth place in the WAC standings with one game left to play.
The Spartans will now have to win their final match and wait for other results to secure a top-two spot in the standings after securing only one point on the road.
San Jose State men’s soccer will travel back home for the regular season finale to host Seattle University on Friday at the Spartan Soccer Complex at 7 p.m.
