By Javier Velez — Staff Writer
San Jose State will make its fifth straight Mountain West Tournament appearance after its win on Senior night against the Fresno State Bulldogs (5-4-2) 2-1.
Both SJSU (5-4-2) goals were scored by seniors in the second half on set-pieces to complete the comeback after trailing at the half.
“Seniors lead the team tonight,” head coach Lauren Hanson said. “With Kristen [Amarikwa] getting the first goal and then [Carlie] James went off the composure on that goal to win it for us.”
Amarikwa scored her fifth goal of the season in the 72nd minute and James scored the game-winning goal in the 84th minute.
The Bulldogs were able to score their lone goal in the 30th minute after the Spartans were unable to clear the ball out of harm’s way.
The Spartans were rewarded a corner-kick and found the back of the net right before half-time but the goal was disallowed.
“It brought us down a little bit.” Amarikwa said. “[We] had to relax, play our game and finish what we could.”
That was the turning point of the game as the score would have been tied 1-1 going into halftime.
“Soccer is a game of two halves, not one,” James said. “It’s all about belief and I think that is stapled into this program.”
SJSU finished the regular season as the fifth seed with 17 points.
The Spartans will play on the road against No. 4 New Mexico on Tuesday, November 5th at 1 p.m. in the single-game elimination Mountain West Tournament.
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