Air Force Academy
San Jose State
Falcons Drop 1-0 Decision at San Jose State
10/18/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Oct. 18, 2009
Dan Addiego scored his first collegiate goal at the 6:25 mark and the San Jose State defense made it hold up Spartan men's soccer team posted a 1-0 victory over Mountain Pacific Sports Federation rival Air Force Sunday at Spartan Stadium.
San Jose State, unbeaten over its last six matches, moves its overall record to 7-6-1 and remains perfect at 2-0 in the MPSF. Air Force, meanwhile, drops to 5-5-1 overall and 0-2 in league play.
The Spartans jumped on the visiting Falcons early, with a pair of opportunities in quick succession from the right flank that resulted in a shot and a header by Ricky Dorrego and Colby Moore, respectively, both of which sailed high over the crossbar.
Six minutes in, San Jose State earned the first of its eight corner kicks on the afternoon, from the left side. Dorrego hit it toward the center of the penalty area, where Moore chested it back out to the left side of the box. Addiego was there to slot his shot into the lower left corner for what turned out to be the lone score of the match, at 6:25.
Air Force came close to equalizing just over eight minutes later. Kevin Rosser, a San Jose product and former teammate of Moore's at nearby Bellarmine College Prep, sent a free kick into the box from the left side that was headed from point-blank range by fellow senior Steven Noller, but sophomore Spartan goalkeeper Jonathan Lester dove to his left to make the save.
The Falcons then briefly thought they had knotted the score in the 17th minute, but the goal was disallowed for offsides. Senior forward Josh Rhynard's shot from the right side of the penalty area was deflected down, with Rosser turning home the loose ball from in close, but the senior midfielder was judged to have been ahead of the final Spartan defender at the time of his shot.
The second half was largely void of offensive soccer, with the first shot attempt not coming until the 72:48 mark, when Air Force sophomore midfielder Ben Chavez provided a meek long-distance effort on the ground that travelled harmlessly into Lester's waiting arms.
Just moments before, the ball had actually wound up in the back of the Spartan net a second time on the day, into the left corner courtesy of senior midfielder Jared Gomez, but the match referee's whistle had already blown for a foul by sophomore forward Garrett Getschow.
With approximately 16 minutes left to play in regulation, the Falcons had yet another chance to tie the score. A clearance attempt deflected fortuitously for Air Force, right onto the path of Rhynard streaking onto goal. Spartan center back Nick Murphy timed his tackle perfectly as Rhynard wound up for the close-range, right-footed shot from the right edge, and dodged any penalty call.
The action near goal picked up late, with Addiego coming close to providing the all-important insurance at 81:05, his hard left-footed shot from the right wing being saved out to a corner kick on the near side by Falcon goalkeeper Mike Mauro.
The drama still was not complete, however, until the horn. With the final seconds ticking away, Chavez and Lester converged on a loose ball near the top of the Spartan penalty area on the left side, with Chavez somehow flicking the ball free and on toward the end-line. He reached the ball just before it went out, and sent a shot that may or may not have been headed into the empty net, but Monjaras charged over to clear into the bleachers as time ran out.
San Jose State out-shot Air Force on the day, 11-10, led by Robert Jackson's game-high four. Chavez paced the Falcons with three attempts, two on goal.
Lester completed the 90 minutes with three saves, notching his sixth individual clean sheet of 2009. Mauro matched him with three stops of his own.
The Falcons return to action next Friday, Oct. 23 when they host MPSF opponent New Mexico at Cadet Soccer Stadium beginning at 7 p.m.
