By Estevan Vargas (@estevan_va) – Spear Reporter | Spartans defending against the Aztecs (Photo by Haddy Barghouti – Spear Photographer)
San Jose State men’s soccer (8-3-4, 1-2-2 WAC) battled to a 2-2 draw against San Diego State (6-7-2, 2-1-2 WAC) in an intense physical matchup that stayed aggressive for all 90 minutes.
Despite the tie, the Spartans showed defensive dominance, holding the Aztecs to just four total shots the entire game.
SJSU came out strong in the first half, completely locking down SDSU’s offense and allowing zero shots while generating 10 of its own. Senior midfielder Angel Iniguez opened the scoring to give the Spartans a 1-0 lead.
The defensive intensity continued after halftime, as the Spartans limited the Aztecs’ chances until a few costly errors shifted the momentum. A bobbled save by senior goalkeeper Ronin Axelson allowed Aztec forward Christian Engmann to equalize at 1-1.
Moments later, senior defender Javier Lopez received a red card, forcing the Spartans to play a man down.
Even with 10 men, the Spartans held firm defensively. Their resilience paid off when Iniguez found the net again in the 81st minute to reclaim the lead. However, an unfortunate penalty call in the 88th minute gave SDSU the chance to tie it up 2-2.
Without the late mistake and penalty, the Spartans were on pace for a shutout.
Senior defender Niklas Dossmann credited the team’s strong chemistry for the defensive success.
“It’s towards the end of the season, and we’ve built a strong back four,” Dossmann said. “We’ve got a lot of minutes together, understand each other really well, and have good quality back there.”
He also highlighted how the team adapted after Lopez’s ejection.
“We put another guy in the back four, and honestly we trust the depth of our squad,” Dossman said. “We had a young sophomore Diego come in and we trusted him the same we do with Javier.”
Associate head coach Jesus Sanchez praised the team’s response to adversity.
“Being down a man is always going to be difficult but we got a goal, which speaks for the quality of the group,” Sanchez said.
The Spartans will look to clean up their mistakes and build on their defensive form when they face UNLV on Oct. 26 at 6 p.m. in Las Vegas, Nev.
