Nov. 8, 2001

Box Score

FRESNO, Calif. - San Jose State got a goal from junior Frank Sanfilipo in the 67th minute to break a scoreless tie and managed to keep the University of Denver men's soccer team out of the net as the Spartans held on for a 2-0 victory Thursday night in the opening round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship Tournament. The loss ends Denver's season with a record of 10-6-3. San Jose State improves to 9-6-3 and will face the winner of the Air Force / Fresno State game in tomorrow's semifinal at 7:30 p.m.

The Pioneers held the tempo for much of the game but just could not get a shot past Spartan keeper Daniel Benton, who had three saves on the evening. Denver had at least three chances go wide of the net, including a shot by junior Nat Borchers (Pueblo, Colo.) with just over 15 minutes left that went just wide after it got past Benton.

San Jose State's goal came off a corner kick as Sanfilipo gathered a loose ball in a scrum of players and beat Denver goalkeeper Parker Jarvis (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) with a shot that hit the right side netting, giving the Spartans a 1-0 lead. The Pioneers continued to pressure the Spartans following the goal, but just could not get the equalizing goal.

San Jose State put the game out of reach in the 87th minute when Fernando Martinez crossed a beautiful ball to teammate Frank Mata and he beat Jarvis with a shot directly off the pass that gave the Spartans an insurmountable 2-0 lead with just over three minutes left.

"I thought we were controlling the game pretty well when they got their goal," head coach Chad Ashton said. "We definitely had some chances tonight, it just wasn't our night. This can be a funny game. My heart goes out to our seniors."

The Spartans got their revenge over the Pioneers, who defeated them in the regular-season finale just last Sunday. The Pioneers won that game 3-2 but couldn't capitalize on chances tonight.

In the first three games of the tournament, the higher seeded team lost their first game, highlighted by eighth-seeded New Mexico upsetting top-seeded Sacramento State in the day's first game. UNLV kept the streak going with a shootout win over San Diego State in the second game.