By: Marco Munoz – Spear Reporter | Junior midfielder Daniel Fregoso Bautista surveys the field vs. University of the Pacific on Sep. 18 (Photo by Marco Munoz- Spear Photographer)
San Jose State men’s soccer (3-4-1, 0-0-0 MW) fell 2-1 against Cal State Fullerton (1-3-3, 0-0-0 Big West) on Sunday.
The action started almost immediately when Fullerton senior midfielder Fernando Valenzuela was awarded a penalty kick at the two-minute mark after a foul by redshirt freshman forward Miliano Suarez.
Valenzuela went on to score 2 goals in the match, the second of which came in the 66th minute to secure the Titans’ win.
The Spartans struck back in the 19th minute when sophomore midfielder Fernando Duarte slid to retain possession of the ball. Duarte found junior defender Cameron Cook, who centered it to junior midfielder Daniel Fregoso Bautista, who found the bottom right corner of the goal for the score.
Fregoso Bautista also leads the Spartans with 8 goals on the season.
Before halftime, senior midfielder Angel Fernandez nearly put the Spartans up by one after his free kick from outside the box was stopped by a leaping save by Titans junior goalkeeper Max Leviton.
The Spartans were aggressive throughout the game, recording 17 shots and 4 shots on goal. Fernandez, Cook and Fregoso Bautista led the team with 3 shots each.
Interim head coach Jesus Sanchez was optimistic about the team’s position heading into conference play.
“We needed to know what we’re about, who we are, and how we can go ahead and achieve that,” Sanchez said, “That’s really what it’s about.”
The Spartans begin conference return home against UC Davis at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Spartan Soccer Complex.
