Rasmussen's 2 goals lead win in San Jose

Saturday, February 27

San Jose, Calif.

8 p.m.

Grand Canyon

2-0-0, 2-0-0

San Jose State

1-1-0, 1-1-0

Grand Canyon

San Jose State

2/27/2021 10:37:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

Lopes beat Spartans 3-2 in 1st road test, move to 2-0

By: Cassidy Mace

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Grand Canyon men's soccer freshman Maximilian Moeller scored a game-winning goal in the 89th minute to give GCU a win on the road at San Jose State. The forward made the Lopes' (2-0, 2-0 WAC) second penalty kick in the last ten minutes of the match to help GCU to a 3-2 win over the Spartans (1-1, 1-1 WAC).

Senior midfielder Justin Rasmussen made a huge impact for the Lopes in the nail biter, scoring two of GCU's three goals of the match to record the first multi-goal game of his career.

The Lopes finished the match with 14 shots, putting two on goal. Junior goalkeeper George Tasouris recorded three saves for GCU.

Sophomore midfielder Will Clark took the first shot of the match for GCU in the first two minutes, missing out top. The Lopes stayed aggressive, putting five shots on goal in seven minutes. Marios Andreou, a junior midfielder, managed to put back-to-back shots on goal in the 8th minute of the match, followed by two from senior forward Rey Gaytan and one from Moeller.

Rasmussen put the Lopes on the board with a goal in the 15th minute, taking a 1-0 lead over the Spartans. Andreou crossed the ball to Rasmussen, who took a shot with his left foot to score in the middle of the net. The goal was Rasmussen's first of the season.

San Jose State quickly made it a tie game with a goal at 19:11.

Sophomore defender Pedro Mondrago took the Lopes' first shot since Rasmussen's goal in the 42nd minute, and the Lopes got another opportunity to score with a corner kick at 42:05. Senior midfieler Tosh Yasuda took hist first shot of the match in the 43rd minute, sending it out top. Alexis Canales, a junior midfielder, took the last shot of the half at 44:57, putting it on goal in the bottom center as the Spartans got the save.

GCU outshot the Spartans 10 to two in the first half, putting seven shots on goal. Tasouris made one save for the Lopes in the first 45 minutes, and GCU took one corner.

San Jose State took the lead with an early goal in the second half, scoring on their third shot on goal of the match to take a 2-1 lead. Sophomore midfielder Hugo Logan took his first shot of the match in the 63rd minute and the Lopes got a chance to score with a corner kick in the 66th.

GCU didn't have another shot until Moeller drew a foul in the 81st minute, giving the Lopes a chance with a penalty kick. Rasmussen took the shot for the team, drilling the ball in the top center of the net over the goalkeeper's head to tie the match at 2-2 with just over nine minutes left to play.

The Lopes stepped it up on offense with Moeller putting a shot on goal only two minutes after Rasmussen's PK.

GCU's opportunity to take the match came in the 89th minute of the match as Moeller drew another foul and took the penalty kick for the Lopes. The freshman took the shot with his left foot, sending a line drive straight to the back-left corner of the goal to put GCU up 3-2 with less than two minutes on the clock.

San Jose State was unable to respond, and the Lopes came out on top to improve to 2-0 on the season.

GCU returns home to take on Air Force on March 6 at 7 p.m. at GCU Stadium.