By Mohamed Bafakih (@Moe_Fresco):
Coming off a 4-0 shutout loss against top-ranked Stanford, San Jose State’s men’s soccer team now shifts its focus to Friday as it welcomes UC Davis to the Spartan Soccer Complex at 5 p.m.
This will be the second of four consecutive home games for SJSU.
The season-opening match against the Cardinal serves as a measuring stick for the Spartans as they try to identify what kind of team they hope to become this season.
With 16 players on the 27-man roster being underclassmen, the young Spartans can build from the experience of playing a powerhouse program.
Several players saw their first collegiate playing minutes against a roster that featured the country’s only team with multiple returning National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) All-Americans in Tomas Hilliard-Arce and Foster Langsdorf.
If the 0-1 Spartans want to draw even with their record, they will have to count on the experience from seniors Jeremy Romero and Carlos Valdovinos, and junior defender Andrew Mendoza.
Romero scored the Spartans’ lone goal in last season’s 4-1 loss against Stanford, but couldn’t find the back of the net in last season’s 0-0 draw against UC Davis.
Coincidentally, the Aggies (1-1) also feature 16 underclassmen on their current roster and are starting redshirt sophomore Wallis Lapsley at goalkeeper after graduating Armando Quezada.
Lapsley appeared in four matches last year and has allowed four goals to go along with nine saves through UC Davis’ first two games — a 3-2 loss to Southern Methodist University and a 3-1 win over University of San Francisco.
The Aggies finished last season 8-9-3 overall and third in the Big West Conference North Division behind Sacramento State and regular season champions UC Santa Barbara with a 4-6-0 conference record.
SJSU leads the all-time series record with UC Davis, 3-2-1, and this meeting will mark the third consecutive year both teams have played one another. The Spartans beat the Aggies 2-1 in double overtime in 2015 and tied 0-0 last season.
