By Larry Larkin (@larrylarkinsjsu) – Spear Reporter | Sophomore midfielder Angel Fernandez runs down the pitch (photo by Alexis Corona-Aguilar – Spear Reporter)
San Jose State men’s soccer (3-4-5, 2-0-1 WAC) remains undefeated in conference play as it settled for a 0-0 tie against Utah Tech (1-7-3, 0-2-1 WAC) at home Thursday.
The Spartans dominated the game as they outshot the Trailblazers 17-8 but couldn’t put the ball in the net.
“[Utah Tech is] a good team, but I thought we dominated play,” SJSU head coach Simon Tobin said. “We’re a little bit upset that we came off with a 0-0 tie where we think we did enough to win.”
Utah Tech entered the game on an eight-game winless streak and three-game losing streak.
SJSU’s leading goal-scorer on the season, junior midfielder Angel Iniguez, didn’t play in the match because he was serving a one-game suspension for yellow card accumulation. NCAA rules state that any player who accumulates five yellow cards in a season is suspended for one game.
Junior forward Diogo Baptista led the Spartans with four shots.
“I had multiple opportunities today, but unfortunately, it wasn’t my day,” Baptista said. “But keep our head up [and] proud of the way we played.”
Eight Spartans played all 90 minutes of the game.
Despite the frustration in not scoring goals, defender Jarette Barajas
“We [are] definitely happy that we were able to create chances in the attacking third,” Barajas said. “It’s just missing that last piece to score a goal.” Barajas said.
Even with all the missed opportunities, Simon had a good thing to say about the team.
“Overall, I thought it was a good performance,” Simon said in a video posted to the SJSU Athletics website.
Junior goalkeeper Edgar Guerra recorded two saves.
SJSU will look to remain undefeated in conference play Sunday at home against UNLV. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
