By David Ngo — Staff Writer
The San Jose State men’s soccer team pulled off a statement 3-0 win over Utah Valley at the Spartan Soccer Complex Friday night.
The win for the Spartans (3-10-1, 3-3-1 WAC) broke a two-game losing streak. An early 10th minute goal from senior defender Jeff Dukes put SJSU ahead, despite Utah Valley (8-5-1, 5-2 WAC) calling for an offside flag.
Freshman goalkeeper David Sweeney recorded his second clean sheet of the season despite a late penalty called against the Spartans in the 90th minute.
Sweeney cemented the Spartans’ 3-0 victory with 11 saves, crediting senior defender Jeff Dukes and freshman defender Josh Redfiel —who started his first game of the season — for stepping up in the second half.
“I told my defense they needed to big and compete up front.” Sweeney said. “They did their job the whole second half so it made my job pretty easy.”
Utah Valley’s Blake Frischknecht came into the match as the Western Athletic Conference’s leading scorer with nine goals, but was completely blanketed by the Spartan backline.
Heading into the second half up 1-0, SJSU head coach Simon Tobin praised freshman defender Redfield for neutralizing the 6-foot-3 senior striker Frischknecht.
“When we play Utah Valley, they’re a very strong physical team so we can’t get wrapped up in 50-50 balls,” Tobin said.
“We had Josh Redfield out there as a freshman tonight,” Tobin said. “For him to wrap up the best forward in the conference, I think that’s a tremendous accomplishment.”
SJSU was outshot by Utah Valley 10-6 heading into the second half and the Wolverines pushed big bodies into the penalty all night as they tried to answer.
SJSU would finish with eight shots compared to the Wolverines’ 13 shot attempts on net.
Junior midfielder Rudy Castro led the Spartans to victory with a dominant two goal performance, punishing Utah Valley with late goals in the 78’ minute and the 80th minute.
“We knew they were going to come out … and we just had to ride it out in the second half,” said sophomore midfielder Max Allen. “Tonight we showed our quality and that’s what we did, we finished them off in the last 25 minutes.”
Heading into Sunday’s final home game against Air Force, Tobin’s men will take Friday night’s momentum into another conference clash on Senior Day.
“Three points,” Sweeney said. “That’s always the mentality we want heading into a game. A win against Air Force will get us in that tournament.”
The Spartans will play their final home game of the season against Air Force Academy on Sunday, kicking off at 1 p.m.
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