Jackson's golden goal leads Lopes to win at San José State

Sunday, October 8

San José, Calif.

3:00 p.m.

Grand Canyon

5-6-0, 2-1WAC

San José State

2-9-1, 0-4-1WAC

OT 3

OT 4

Grand Canyon

San Jose State

Photo by: Corey Solotorovsky

Jackson's golden goal leads Lopes to win at San José State

10/8/2017 6:21:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

Jackson has scored in three consecutive games

By: Josh Hauser

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Behind the late-game heroics of Niki Jackson, the Grand Canyon men's soccer team won in two overtimes at San José State, 1-0, on Sunday afternoon. Jackson scored in the 107th minute, just three minutes shy of the match ending in a draw.

To begin the play, Marco Afonso keyed a free kick from near midfield. Afonso's kick sailed down into the box where Alex Radilla left his feet to send the ball towards the goal. After a Spartan deflection and an Aidan McGlothan header, the ball found the vicinity of Jackson who left his feet to redirect the ball to the back of the net.

"He's a hard guy to mark in tight places like that," head coach Schellas Hyndman said. "He's got very good timing. He's a fighter. He always seems to be right where the ball ends up somehow. He's just got a nose for the ball. You can't practice that in training. So it's no surprise that he's the one who puts it in."

#WACmsoc Golden Goal! @GCU_Lopes Niki Jackson with the winner in 2OT helping the Lopes to a 1-0 victory over San Jose State. pic.twitter.com/6XRJmCsloT
— WAC (@WACsports) October 9, 2017

With goals against Houston Baptist and CSU Bakersfield, Jackson has now scored in three consecutive matches. He's up to five on the year.

The Spartans were responsible for much of the attacking, especially in the second half and first overtime. For the day, San José State out-shot the Lopes 17-6.

"They really started coming at us early in the second half," Hyndman said. "When we went to overtime, we were able to even things up. It was a very good shutout for us. Charlie Keating had a really good game for us. He was working extremely hard on the attack and defending side."

Sunday's match featured a fairly quiet first half offensively, with the two teams combining for just eight total shots. Jeremy Pollard had the half's only save, coming when two San José State forwards got into the box before Pollard was able to dive on the ball.

GCU's best look at things in the first half came courtesy of McGlothan. Josh Drack keyed a free kick from outside the box before McGlothan's header from inside the box was off target. Jackson and Musa Morris Demos also had shots in the first 45 minutes.

The Lopes return to Phoenix for a single match against Incarnate Word on Friday at 4 p.m. MST before heading out onto the road to face UTRGV on Sunday.