By Lindsey Boyd (@lindsboyd3):
No. 18 San Jose State was one goal shy of beating No. 7 UC Irvine (9-4) last year, but since then, the Anteaters have largely improved to beat the number one team in the nation, UCLA.
Irvine is coming off of big back-to-back wins against UCLA and No. 9 Pepperdine. They have won eight of their last 10 games, with many goals from freshman Fynn Schuetze and freshman Casey Lynton.
Two of the Spartan’s stand out players, freshman Jacob Mercep and Justin Pickering, will have to continue nailing in goals and getting solid assists from sophomore drivers Ashley Castle and Ben Hauschild in order to compete with Irvine.
The Spartans will then play No. 15 Cal Baptist, No. 24 Whittier and La Verne in the Gary Troyer Tournament Saturday and Sunday.
SJSU will have a chance to face Whittier, which the Spartans beat 10-7 last time they met in the Aggie Shootout. The Spartans have not yet played Cal Baptist this season.
Overall, the Spartans have not been content even with their national ranking and are looking to rise in the leaderboard this weekend.