The men’s soccer opener was the first match between the San Jose State Spartans and the Dixie State Trailblazers on Saturday.
The Spartans won 2-1 at Greater Zion Stadium in St. George, Utah in their first game since November 2019 and Dixie’s first season as a Division I team.
SJSU postponed its first two regular season games against the University of the Incarnate Word and Air Force, which were originally scheduled earlier this month.
SJSU has the second most senior players in all of Division I soccer with 13, following Cal Poly’s 15 seniors.
This makes SJSU’s 2020-21 roster the second most experienced in the nation, even with its seven new players.
“It is a big year, even with all the constraints, all the challenges, [the seniors] want to be leaders for this coming group," said head coach Simon Tobin, in a Feb. 17 season preview interview. “Nine of those 11 starters will be very very local kids, nine of those starters will be first-generation kids from their family so those are things that we’re trying to build up and have a pride about in our soccer team. It represents San Jose State more.”
The Western Athletic Conference (WAC), SJSU’s Division I conference, announced the league schedule would have 10 conference matches for each program.
The WAC Tournament is scheduled to take place April 13-17 in Las Vegas where the top six teams within the league will compete.
“We have no preseason, we have no friendlies like many of the other teams,” Tobin said. “We’re straight into conference action so every game is so meaningful right from the beginning to try and get to the WAC tournament.”
During Saturday’s game, Trailblazers midfielder Idris Alabi scored their only goal thirteen minutes into the match, assisted by defender Matt Lockwood.
The Spartans faced a tense second half but managed to score two back-to-back goals, by defender Jamal Adam and midfielder Nicolas Brenes’ with less than 11 minutes remaining.
Adam positioned himself behind Dixie’s strong defense and took advantage of the ball positioned in the penalty box by senior midfielder Carlos Gomez-Zavala 79 minutes into the match.
The goal was assisted by senior forward Rudi Castro.
Midfielder Brenes’ firm kick scored the winning point, assisted by Jered Mariani and again Castro only six minutes after Adam’s goal.
Castro was named the TicketSmarter WAC Offensive Player of the Week for Feb. 15-21 for his strong offensive attack and assisting both goals.
He also had a noteworthy 2019 season with 18 appearances and ended the season with 20 points, 59 attempted shots and 31 shots on goal.
Brenes was the shot leader of Saturday’s match with three shots and one goal.
Castro and midfielder Max Allen both received preseason All-WAC honors by the conference’s head coaches.
In the last three seasons, SJSU has surpassed the postseason and qualified for the WAC title match for two of those seasons.
SJSU is scheduled to play its next match on Feb. 27 against Grand Canyon University at Spartan Soccer Complex.
