By Ethan Ndachi (@EthanNdachi) – Content editor | Neo Ruiz, Angel Fernandez, and Eamon Fakhri chase down CSUN’s Arturo Reveles (Photo by Lupita Ferreyra – The Spartan Daily)
Spartans men’s soccer (4-1-1) earned their first draw of the season Thursday night at the Spartan Soccer Complex, against the Northridge Matadors (2-0-3). A slight improvement since their last meeting which was a 1-0 loss at home on Aug. 26 2018. SJSU is now 8-6-2 against CSUN in their history.
The Matadors continued their streak of conceding zero goals this season so far, while the Spartans picked up their fourth clean sheet in six games. This marks the first time since 2000 that SJSU has gotten four clean sheets in the first six matches to begin a season. While it may be frustrating to not get the winning result, there was a lot of positivity from the Spartans today.
“I thought it was one of our more complete performances, I thought there was a lot of positive things we could pick out of this game,” Associate head coach Jesus Sanchez said.
SJSU had 15 shots on the night with just four hitting target. While unable to put the Spartans ahead, sophomore striker Arnold Matshazi still put in a shift with his hold up play and shielding helping progress the attack forward. The Spartans tried persistently to break the deadlock throughout the match.
Recent WAC top play of the week winner sophomore midfielder Daniel Fregoso Bautista tried to bring the Spartans up late in the 87th minute with a shot to the bottom right of goal. But the attempt was denied by CSUN’s keeper Bryan Castaneda, which drew a gasp from the stands.
“I think we had the edge in the end and could have gotten a goal, but 0-0 is a relatively fair result,” senior defender and captain Niklas Dossmann said. “Northridge plays a similar style to us so it’s different than classic college soccer, so a fun game for both of us.”
The game was indeed action packed with SJSU’s high and wide wingbacks stretching the play with the midfield combining dangerously inside. Senior midfielder Angel Iniguez’s vision was giving CSUN’s backline problems as he threaded balls in behind and also lead the team in shots with three for the night. Senior defender Javier Lopez got on the end of one of Iniguez’s set pieces early in the third minute, but his bicycle kick was off target.
Junior midfielder Gilberto Rivera in particular, looked imperious in the midfield playing all 90 minutes. Rivera was eating up yards, winning key tackles and interceptions with his passing ability on display when he sent long balls over the top to teammates. The defensive midfielder even ended up carrying the ball through CSUN’s box in a spectacular run before being brought down by the Matadors’ defense.
“Even if we didn’t win, I thought it was our best performance,” Rivera said. “I think this might have been my best game intensity wise.”
Redshirt keeper Edgar Guerra made his stamp on the match as well, helping secure the Spartans a clean sheet and providing two big saves on the night. SJSU’s backline kept CSUN relatively quiet, limiting them to only two shots on target out of their eight total.
With the highly anticipated match against No. 8 Stanford looming ahead, the team wants to take this game’s intense test, and apply it to the game against their rivals.
“We know it’s a different type of challenge [Stanford], but I think for us if we can be a little more clinical especially early on, the game opens up,” Sanchez said.
The Spartans will look to continue their positivity against Stanford next week on Wednesday 7 p.m at the Spartan Soccer Complex.
