The San Jose State University women’s soccer team shut out the University of New Mexico 1-0 to win the Mountain West Conference title Saturday night at the Spartan Soccer Complex.
This is the Spartans second conference title in the last four seasons with the last appearance coming in 2015. The team received an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament and will face UCLA on the road on Nov. 9.
In front of a rowdy crowd and with both teams having played three games in five days, the need to get off to a fast start was huge.
The No.3 seed Lobos were not fazed by the Spartans’ defense as the team continuously peppered shots in the Spartans’ half of the field. The Spartans proceeded to do the same in hopes of getting the crucial goal to jump out to an early lead in the conference championship match.
The first big save of the night came from Spartans’ senior goalkeeper Paige Simoneau as she made a kick save off of a Lobos’ corner kick in the 15th minute.
The tide seemed to turn in favor of SJSU as the team began getting the ball out wide and serving the ball in the box as they so often do when looking to score a quick goal.
After several scoring chances coming up just short in the first 20 minutes, the Spartans finally broke through as freshman defender Haleigh Wynne struck a shot just outside the goal box and over the head of Lobos’ junior goalkeeper Emily Johnson to give SJSU the early 1-0 in the 23rd minute.
Spartans’ head coach Lauren Hanson explained the importance of getting that early goal, especially from a freshman in the biggest game of the season to date.
“It was such a big moment for her. I mean it’s so special to have her come up big for us,” Hanson said. “She has come up big for us in some other games too like against UNLV and Nevada on the road and those are huge games and people don’t realize that, but that is really special.”
Wynne also went through a wide range of emotions as she scored the first and only goal in the championship match.
“I was super hyped and I knew we had a lot of game left, so it definitely was a whole team effort and I wouldn’t be anywhere without Frankie, so it was a big win for us and I am super excited to move on,” Wynne said.
The Lobos continued to fire shots at Simoneau as the first half came to a close, but the senior goalkeeper was able to get SJSU to halftime leading 1-0 and just one half away from bringing home the conference title.
Being just 45 minutes away from getting crowned Mountain West Conference champions, the Spartans looked to play an ultra-defensive game in the second half to protect their 1-0 lead over the Lobos.
Though this defensive strategy worked for the rest of the second half, Simoneau proved why she would be named the Mountain West Conference tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
Simoneau made two crucial saves in the 74th and 87th minute to preserve the Spartans’ lead and their conference title aspirations.
With the final whistle blow, both the Spartans’ bench and home crowd rushed the field to celebrate the team’s win.
“I mean it’s so special right we have a very young group. We played up to nine freshmen and sophomores all season long and a lot of injuries at the beginning of the season and it’s very hard for a young group to go through that and continue grind and grow and lead,” Hanson said. “We have a phrase that’s called ‘kaizen,’ which means continuous improvement and just kind of believed in that all season long.”
Simoneau recorded her 11th clean sheet of the season, adding to her already shutout record while also receiving MWC tournament MVP honors and being one of four Spartans to be named to the Mountain West All-Tournament Team.
The senior goalkeeper spoke about what this championship victory and earning conference MVP meant to her and how proud she was of her team.
“I feel great. My team did most of the hard work for me and I just feel amazing and super blessed to be here,” Simoneau said.
With a team that prides itself on defense and being no strangers to shutting out teams, this was the Spartans’ 11th shutout on the season and their eighth shutout in conference play.
“I told our team before the game we are the best defense in the conference, have 10 shutouts all season long and eight in conference play and we just work hard,” Hanson said. “It’s defense that wins championships, so you go out and defend your tails off and you get one goal and you win the game.”
The three other Spartans that were named to the Mountain West All-Conference Team were junior forward Jamilecxth Becerra, junior defender Kristen Amarikwa and sophomore forward Natasha Harris.
With a number of the players originating from Los Angeles, coach Hanson believes there will be a strong Spartan fan base for their first-round matchup against UCLA.
“We’re feeling excited. I mean half of our team is from Southern California, so we should have a ton of fans there,” Hanson said. “Obviously they are going to be excited to play in front of their families and it’s a great experience to go down there and play the Bruins who are great and for us, we have a great defense and we will be rested finally and we’re going to go in and compete hard.”
