By Austin Turner – Staff Writer
San Jose State (7-7-2, 5-3-1 WAC) can secure a spot in the Western Athletic Conference tournament with a win over Texas Rio Grande Valley (11-5, 6-3 WAC) on Sunday.
Currently holding the fourth spot in the WAC, the Spartans will be looking to leap over the Vaqueros, who are the second seed as of Saturday.
The Spartans are coming off of an impressive offensive display in their 3-1 victory over Incarnate Word on Friday night.
Two sophomore midfielders, Max Allen and Nicolas Brenes, made their way onto the scoring sheet for the first time in a San Jose State uniform with both players scoring absolute rockets from outside the box.
They are going to need more of the firepower that they had on Friday night to beat the Vaqueros.
The team has scored at least one goal in every match this season, aside from a shutout loss to St. Francis in the season opener. They are led by junior forward Kyle Edwards, who is in his first season playing for the Vaqueros and has been putting on an offensive clinic.
He has 10 of the team’s 30 goals so far this season, and the Spartan defense will need to mark him throughout the match and prevent him from causing damage.
Senior goalkeeper Alex Clewis, who leads the WAC with 74 saves, will need yet another great performance for the Spartans. Luckily for him, the match will be played in San Jose, where he tends to perform better.
In seven matches at the Spartan Soccer Field, he’s allowed only eight goals, as opposed to 17 allowed in eight games on the road.
It looks to an interesting matchup for San Jose State, a team that took care of business in a crucial game on Friday night. It’s a team that has been playing its best soccer of the season at a critical point of the season, and with so much on the line, expect a hard-fought game.
The Spartans will be looking to clinch a spot in the WAC tournament at 1 p.m. on Sunday when they host Texas Rio Grande Valley at the Spartan Soccer Field.
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