The San Jose State women's soccer team clinched the Mountain West regular season championship with Thursday’s 1-0 win against Fresno State.
This is the third regular season championship the Spartans have secured, with the other two coming in 2015 and 2018.
In a match that would decide the seeding in the Mountain West Championship, the Spartans found themselves in the middle of a three-way tie.
Wyoming and New Mexico share the regular season championship title with the Spartans as all three schools finished the season with 20 points.
The crowning of a champion and deciding which school gets which seeding placement is where things got tricky as multiple scenarios were on the line Thursday night in making a decision.
Another milestone that came with this victory was SJSU head coach Tina Estrada becoming the first head coach to win the regular season championship in her first year.
Estrada, who was named the Spartans head coach on April 8, has been a part of the women's soccer program for five years. Estrada started out as an assistant coach with the team before being promoted to associate head coach in 2020.
The match between SJSU (7-6-5, 6-3-2) and Fresno State (1-13-4, 1-7-2) was a back and forth battle. As the Spartans out-shot the Bulldogs 14-8, the game deciding goal didn’t come until minute 81 and was scored by junior midfielder Cynthia Flores and was assisted by sophomore midfielder Taylor Phillips.
Phillips had an eventful night, ending with 2 shots and 1 assist. The second-year midfielder ends the regular season with the second most assists in the Mountain West Conference.
First-year goalkeeper Bente Pernot was just as active, recording two saves and locking her fifth solo shutout of the season. The freshman from the Netherlands ranks second in the conference in saves and is tied for third in shutouts.
“I’m really proud of this group, they fought all year,” Estrada said after Thursday’s match. “Our plan is to continue this momentum forward and take care of the Mountain West.”
SJSU secured the No. 3 seed in the Mountain West Championships with the win and faced Colorado College on Sunday.
In front of them was No. 6 Colorado College who the Spartans defeated 1-0.
Throughout the night, the Spartans were aggressive on the offense, kicking 20 shots with five of them being on goal compared to the Tigers’ five shots in total.
Senior midfielder Sabrina Weinman led the charge with five shots with one being on goal.
Despite the lopsided offensive output, the contest was scoreless for a majority of the game.
It wasn’t until Minute 76 where the Spartans broke through when sophomore midfielder Taylor Phillips cut back on a Tiger defender and kicked the game-winning goal.
Jada Wilson, newly-named Mountain West Conference Defensive Player of the Year, along with Bente Pernot, the Mountain West Newcomer of the Year, held their ground keeping the Tigers offense scoreless.
With the win, the Spartans advance to the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference tournament and will play the host team No. 2 University of New Mexico which is scheduled for Wednesday night at 6 p.m.
