By Haddy Barghouti (HB_SportsBeat) – Spear Reporter | Sophomore defender Charlotte Memoly defends Grand Canyon midfielder Sabrina Guzman on a header. (Photo by Diego Macaraeg – Spear Photographer)
In their first-ever meeting, San Jose State women’s soccer fell 1–0 to Grand Canyon University, marking the third consecutive match in which the Spartans allowed just one goal.
The Spartans’ defense kept them in the game early, but a 48th-minute goal by sophomore midfielder Tatum Hofstetter lifted the Antelopes to their seventh win of the season.
Both goalkeepers made key saves, but the Antelopes ultimately won the goalie battle.
Junior goalkeeper Emma Knack recorded eight saves for GCU, while Spartans sophomore Paige Fry stopped four of the Antelopes’ 10 shot attempts. Fry’s four saves all came in the first half.
However, despite three GCU shots in the second half, the defense held its own and kept the offense in the game.
“That shows how many shots were blocked, how many shots we forced them wide, I think overall defense is getting better and better every game,” Fry said. “But just still keep making sure we’re limiting those things and it’s all just a communication thing too, and like I said those are the moments where we get a little bit lazy, so just keeping the communication up.”
This marked Fry’s sixth consecutive game with four or more saves, as she entered the match ranked third in the nation in total saves.
Sophomore defender Charlotte Memoly played the full 90 minutes on defense for the fifth consecutive game.
“We had a couple of our starters not able to play with us today, so there were some adjustments that we had to make to start the match,” Memoly said. “I think we were able to fill those spots and still come out with a lot of energy.”
GCU joined the Mountain West this season after spending the past 11 years in the Western Athletic Conference.
“I think it’s great to have another competitive program in our conference,” SJSU head coach Sonia Curvelo said. “We’re all in the mix trying to shoot for that top six, and I think they’re in it too. We’ve got to do our best to collect as many points as we can going into conference games.”
The Spartans will travel to Boise State next Thursday, Oct. 9, at 6 p.m. looking to earn their second win and bounce back after their first conference-game loss.
