Air Force Academy
San Jose State
Falcons Drop 1-0 Decision to San Jose State
10/19/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Oct. 19, 2008
Nick Cukar scored the game's only goal in the 67th minute to lead the San Jose State men's soccer team to a 1-0 triumph over Air Force Sunday in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men's soccer match at Spartan Stadium. With their first conference victory of the season, the Spartans evened their overall record at 5-5-3, and improved to 1-4 in the MPSF, while Air Force fell to 4-9 overall and 2-3 in conference play.
Hiroki Akiyama had his initial shot from near the top of the penalty box deflect off a Falcon defender and float toward goal. Cukar was first to the ball and picked it out of the air for his fourth goal of the year, beating Air Force goalie Jim Gullo.
Richard Mann earned his first start of the season in the Spartan net and was hardly tested in notching his first shutout of the year. Mann needed to make just two saves over the 90 minutes. Gullo, meanwhile, tied his career-high with eight saves for the third consecutive game.
San Jose State held a 28-9 shot advantage on the day, including 18-4 in the second half. Steve Noller and fellow junior Kevin Rosser produced two shots apiece for Air Force. Noller and freshman Ben Chavez each had one shot on goal for the Falcons.
Air Force could not capitalize after San Jose State went down a man due to a red card issue with 10 minutes remaining in the second half. The Falcons' best chance came in the 85th minute when freshman Garrett Getschow's curling shot ended up just wide.
Air Force now has 11 days off from competition before returning to action for the second half of the MPSF's double round robin schedule at home on Friday, October 31, against Sacramento State.
