Winds of up to 26 mph did not stop the San Jose State men’s soccer team from beating Air Force 2-0 at the Senior Day home game Sunday.
The Spartans are now 4-10-1 on the regular season and 4-3-1 in conference play.
Head coach Simon Tobin said his team played as best it could under the harsh weather conditions and felt that despite the wind, the Spartans held their ground defensively.
“We had to be very gritty,” Tobin said. “This is probably the ugliest game we’ve played.”
He said if the team was able to manage a tie during halftime, it would have more of a chance in the second half. “I thought the key was getting to halftime at 0-0,” Tobin said.
The team managed to keep that halftime tie by maintaining a strong defensive line, blocking shots and a crucial stop in the 30th minute by freshman goalie David Sweeney.
This marks Sweeney’s third shutout victory in his first collegiate season. Tallying saves, Sweeney faced nine corner kicks in the afternoon.
His performance earned him Western Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors.
“I just figured get a shutout and win this game,” Sweeney said.
The wind going against Sweeney made it harder for him to kick the ball back into play several times, as the wind would push the ball back, making it easier for Air Force to steal.
He said he tried to remain calm during the strong wind conditions and was taking his time in kicking the ball to allow for the wind to settle.
“I was just trying to stay calm out there,” Sweeney said.
When his defenders would try to pass him the ball, Air Force attackers would immediately dash to pressure him, which made Sweeney almost give up the ball.
“You don’t expect [Air Force] to take it easy,” Tobin said. “When you play Air Force, you’re prepared to be under pressure all
the time.”
Sweeney knew going into the game that Air Force was going to press and he believed his team had his back and would eventually get on the scoreboard.
“Our team is really confident with the ball at our feet,” he said.
That confidence eventually came late in the second half after the Spartans had two disallowed goals because of offsides and a strong effort from the Falcons.
Junior midfielder Willy Miranda blasted the ball into the Falcons net for his first goal of the season by redirecting a free kick grounded into the box by junior midfielder Max Allen, putting the Spartans up 1-0 with 11 minutes left to go.
The free kick came after Air Force freshman midfielder Elijah Bussey tried keeping Spartan junior defender Omar Lemus from passing the ball into the goal box.
The free kick created an uproar from Air Force fans in the bleachers as they screamed that Lemus threw himself rather than Bussey pushing Lemus down.
Regardless, the Spartans had the lead thanks to Miranda, who said he believed the team’s ability to play made the difference in beating the Falcons.
“We have a style of playing of trying to keep the ball the entire game,” Miranda said.
Coming off an ankle injury Miranda said it felt good being able to help the team out in winning
the game.
SJSU kept the momentum from the first goal and continued its all-out attacking passing plays and managed a second goal in the final minutes.
Senior forward Suliman Khorami, snuck behind the defense after a through pass before beating the goalkeeper one-on-one to give the Spartans a 2-0 lead in the 89th minute.
Coming off two away losses the previous weekend, Tobin said Friday’s game against Utah Valley University and Sunday’s wins were important before going into the next three away games.
He said the last couple of years the team hasn’t been getting the best results in its games during the later half of conference play.
“It’s good to peak at the right time,” Tobin said. “If we can keep our form going into this conference tournament, it bodes well for the postseason.”
The Spartans will play at University of Texas Rio Grande Valley on Friday and at University of the Incarnate Word on Sunday.
“The Texas teams are notoriously hard to play on
the road,” Tobin said.
