By Keanu Haghighi (@KeanuHaghighi):
The San Jose State women’s soccer team’s memorable season came to an end after New Mexico upset them in penalty kicks to advance to the championship game of the Mountain West tournament.
SJSU entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed and had high expectations to win the entire tournament after receiving a first round bye. New Mexico came in as the No. 4 seed and was looking for revenge after losing to the Spartans by a score of 2-1 on Oct. 8.
In the fifth minute, Lobos midfielder Jessie Hix got the scoring started after midfielder Amelia Bierle delivered a cross from 5 yards out for Hix to send into the back of the net.
The Spartans were able to respond quickly however, as senior midfielder Yaritza Arista was able to notch her second goal of the season and tie the game at one a piece.
New Mexico and SJSU would exchange chances throughout the half, but stellar goalkeeping from Paige Simoneau and Emily Johnson kept the game deadlocked.
The Lobos were able to break the tie in the 33rd minute when Casey Murphy scored her first goal of the year on a rebound off the post. This goal slowed the Spartans’ momentum down as they went into halftime trailing 2-1.
It only took the Spartans 53 seconds into the second half to tie the game at two after midfielder Sabrina Miller scored her first goal of the season.
The goal gave the Spartans much needed energy as they began to put pressure on the Lobos back line. San Jose State was able to get six shots off for the rest of the half, which translated into them outshooting the opposition 18 to 12.
Nobody was able to score the game winner in regulation or in the two extra overtime frames which forced the tie to be broken by a penalty shootout.
The first three shooters scored for both the Lobos and the Spartans. SJSU’s fourth shooter and leading scorer for the Spartans Jamilecxeth Becerra missed her penalty kick. Amelia Bierle buried the game winner right after to give the Lobos the win via penalty kicks by a score of 5-3.
Following a season in which SJSU won their first regular season championship, the early exit in the tournament makes for a disappointing end to the year. As for New Mexico, the team will play in the championship game against the No. 2 seeded San Diego State this Saturday.
