STOCKTON, Calif. – The University of the Pacific men's soccer team got back to its winning ways with a 4-1 rout of San Jose State on Sunday night. A three-goal first half propelled the host Tigers to its second home win and made winners out of Pacific for the fourth time in its last five games.
Pacific is now 5-2 on the season and the loss drops San Jose State to 2-4-1.
First Half
• Pacific got on the scoreboard on its first shot of the night by
Yazid Omri, following a pass from
Mathias Saether in the 3
rd minute.
• After a foul on the Spartans,
Emory Rapaport put in the rebound shot after missing a penalty kick in the 9
th minute to stretch the lead to 2-0. It was his team-leading third goal on the season.
• The Spartans got its goal when Finlay Wood converted a penalty kick in the 21
st minute.
• Pacific got back on the scoreboard when
Erik Centeno scored after being set up by
Mathias Saether, who picked up his second assist of the night, and
Mamoru Kamisasanuki.
•
Derick Roque entered the match in the 29
th minute and made his 2021 debut in the contest.
• Roque got off his first shot in the 36
th minute.
Second Half
• Tigers' goalkeeper
Eric Cotton made a pair of saves to keep the Tigers lead at 3-1 in the opening minutes of the second half.
• Roque nearly added to the Tigers' lead with a shot in the 58
th minute that was saved by Spartans' goalkeeper David Sweeney.
•
Cooper Riley got into the scoring column with a goal in the 71
st minute, following a pass from
Yazid Omri.
• Pacific had three chances in the closing minute – two of which were saved by the SJSU defense and its goalkeeper David Sweeney. The third was a shot by Kamisasanuki that hit the post.
Coach Reeves on the Win:
Preparing for San Jose State is always fun. We knew it was going to be a good game. They are open, they are just like us; they have very dynamic players all over the field. Simon (Tobin, San Jose State Head Coach) does a remarkable job with his team. He is not one to back up and just defend for 90 minutes like Thursday night. Part of Thursday night, it was our fault, when we concede the first goal teams are always going to back up and defend and really, really deep which is going to make it difficult on us. We talked today during the walkthrough about the importance of a first goal and getting on top of teams because then they have to open up. That is what we like, we want to play through them and exploit spaces. This is the fourth game in eight days for SJSU, I knew it was going to be tough on them. We got them at the right time and this is a very good team. This could look up to be a big win after they get through conference play. I thought it was a team performance. Overall, I am happy with the performance, the number of goals but I am still looking for that shutout."
Post-Game Notes
• Twice, Pacific has scored four goals in a game in 2021.
• The three first half goals are a season-high for Pacific. The last time that Pacific scored three goals in a half was in the spring 2021 finale as Pacific knocked off St. Mary's (CA), 3-2.
• Five Tigers have played and started all seven games in 2021.
• The Tigers have won the last four meetings against San Jose State and outscored the Spartans by an 11-3 margin in the four games.
Next Up
Next, the Tigers will face UC Davis on Saturday, Sept. 25 at UC Davis at the Aggie Soccer Field at 4 p.m.
