By Silent McCarthy
Staff Writer

Despite San Jose State’s aggressive start in the first half, the California State University, Bakersfield men’s soccer team overcame all obstacles and took the win 5-1 on October 4 at the main soccer field.

The Bakersfield community showed their support for the ’Runners, with over 2000 fans at the game on Saturday night in a nationally streamed game on the National Soccer Coaches Association of America website.

Just to add to the pressure, many of the Runners were playing against their former coach, Simon Tobin, who left CSUB for San Jose State University over the off season. The atmosphere on the field was emotional but the ’Runners prevailed.

The Spartans played a direct game in the first half forcing sophomore goalkeeper, Nicolas Clever to save the ball three times. The Runners retaliated against the Spartans moving the ball up the field with sharp, clean passes. Thirteen minutes into the game, SJSU made a huge mistake, leaving a hole in their back line. The ball was given to senior midfielder Joe Masumiya and he punished the Spartans for their mistake scoring the first goal of the night. After the goal, the Spartans felt the pressure and returned to their aggressive plays. Both Masumiya and fellow senior midfielder, Lucas Dall’Orso attempted brilliant shots but barely missed the mark. With only five minutes left in the first half, San Jose sophomore midfielder, Uriel Ayala assisted by sophomore midfielder Jonathan Colunga scored a goal balancing the scoreboard once again with 1-1 at halftime.

“We’re always hardworking and persistent throughout the game,” said Masumiya and he was correct.

In the second half, the ’Runners played a phenomenal game, scoring four more times. In the 50th minute, freshman midfielder Mario[8] Iniguez made an unassisted goal bringing the score to 2-1. In the next fifteen minutes of the game, redshirt freshman  forward Julian Zamora scored two assisted shots for the ‘Runners. Zamora’s scores brought the crowd back to life and the ‘Runners seemed to feed off the crowd’s positive energy.

“It felt good. There was a lot of people out there cheering. I’ve never been in a crowd that big while playing soccer.so it was a really good feeling having a lot of the student athletes and students cheering. We wanted three points and we wanted to start the season well. We got the job done so hopefully we keep on playing well and keep on getting the results we need. ” Zamora commented after the game, Senior defender Alex Flores scored the final goal of the night assisted by junior midfielder Christian Duarte allowing the ’Runners to win the game.

“I thought we were better in the second half and it was a pleasure to have Simon back here” said Richie Grant, head coach of the Roadrunners. “And this league is good. That’s a really good team we beat tonight. We were really well prepared for the game.”