By Sofia Wright — Staff Writer
After some tough non-conference games, the San Jose State men’s soccer team (1-7-0, 1-0-0 WAC) scored their first win of the season 3-2 against CSU Bakersfield (1-6-0, 0-1-0 WAC).
The Spartans got ahead early as junior midfielder Nicolas Brenes scored his first goal of the game in the 17th minute, and his second in the 55th.
In between Brenes’ goals, junior midfielder Danny Sanchez was able to get the ball in the back of the net in the 48th minute.
“I feel like we finally got a win we deserve,” Sanchez said. “We just have to work on kind of keeping our momentum the entire game.
SJSU was up 3-0 until a penalty kick that gave the Roadrunners life.
Even though the Spartans were able to hold off for most of the second half, midfielder Ricardo Soza was able to score for CSU Bakersfield, making it a close 3-2 game.
“I think the key is that we have to be at least three goals ahead just to make sure we can win the game,” SJSU head coach Simon Tobin said. “And I say that a little bit jokingly, but it’s true. We just about held on.”
In the second half, the Roadrunners had more opportunities. They not only outshot SJSU 13-6, but also had four corner kicks and were fouled five times.
Toward the end, the Spartans had a few crosses that went right past the goal. At that point, being unable to score again, SJSU had to run the clock to get the win.
“It’s all mental,” Brenes said. “Everybody has to support each other no matter our mistakes and that helped out in the end to help us win.”
The Spartans face the Kansas City Roos at 12:00 p.m. Friday at the Spartan Soccer Complex.
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