By Hector Roldan (@HectorRSJSU) – Spear Reporter
Photo by Christian Vieyra | The Spear
San Jose State men’s soccer (2-2-3) defeated Santa Clara (1-5-1) in a thrilling 3-1 victory. The Spartans took home their first home win of the season.
SJSU earned their first home win over the Broncos since October of 2003 and first win against Santa Clara since September 9, 2012. It was also Coach Simon Tobin’s first win against Santa Clara since arriving at SJSU.
The win was highlighted by sophomores Gaku Nishimura and Angel Iniguez. Nishimura collected his first two collegiate goals and Iniguez scored his third goal of the season.
Santa Clara struck first in the match with a goal from Jack Civitts in the seventh minute. The Spartans went on to score three unanswered goals, two coming in the first half and one coming in the second.
Iniguez tied up the match for the Spartans with his third goal of the season in the 12th minute.
At the end of the first half, Nishimura earned his first collegiate goal after a penalty shot in the 40th minute, giving the Spartans a 2-1 lead.
Later, Nishimura scored another penalty kick for the Spartans. The team closed the door on the Broncos, giving them a 3-1 lead in the 82nd minute.
“Beau Leroux and Kasper Poulsgaard can’t play right now due to injury, and I know they want to play right now but can’t and these two goals and today’s win is for them,” Nishimura said. “Right now we have a good atmosphere and a lot of people are coming to our games this year and we have a lot of game.”
Tobin added, “We went behind very early actually … when we were able to control the game good things happened.”
SJSU men’s soccer has its next match on the road. The team will take on the Hornets of Sacramento State on Friday, September 17.