Senior Night spoiled despite pushing WAC leader

Sunday, October 27

Phoenix, Ariz.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

5-8-3, 2-4-1

San Diego State

9-4-3, 6-0-1

San Diego St.

Grand Canyon

Photo by: David Kadlubowski

10/27/2024 10:29:00 PM | Men's Soccer, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery

San Diego State wins 1-0 in Schmidt's final regular-season home match

By: Paul Coro

The Grand Canyon men's soccer team is measuring progress that the WAC standings do not show.

Sunday night's 1-0 loss to conference leader San Diego State, No. 42 in RPI rankings, put GCU's postseason picture in peril. But Lopes head coach George Kiefer is putting it in perspective.

A four-game winless stretch is revealing the strength of GCU's locker room culture, and outshooting the Aztecs 8-1 in Sunday's second half showed how close a breakthrough lies.

San Diego State's third consecutive shutout leaves the Lopes in eighth place but still in control of their destiny to make the six-team WAC Tournament on Nov. 10-16 at GCU Stadium. GCU closes the season this week at sixth-place San Jose State on Thursday, when it can pass the Spartans with a win, and second-place Seattle U on Saturday.

WAC standings

"The guys were very good in a lot of areas, especially in the second half when we dragged them around well," Kiefer said. "Give them credit because they have been outshot in a fair amount of games, and they still walk away with three points. But from our team's standpoint, you just keep seeing them get better and better.

"They just played the best team in the league and dragged them around for 45 minutes, so that says they're doing something right."

It took one wrong sequence early to undo Sunday night's result.

In the 14th minute, when the Lopes could not break up a long cross or an entry pass. At 6 feet 3, San Diego State sophomore Reid Fisher went high to head the cross to the middle where it got past the Lopes to Aztecs senior defender Andre Puente, who scored his second goal of the season.

In a match peppered with 30 fouls (16 by GCU, 14 by San Diego State), the Lopes controlled possession for 63% of the match. Their sequencing, spacing and pressing were all strong, but the qualify of their shots improved in the final minutes.

GCU freshman midfielder Damon Rouse missed just wide left in the 82nd minute. Two minutes later, Lopes sophomore midfielder Jorge Lopez sent a ball wide to junior forward Nelson Gomez Rodriguez, who dribbled inside and fed graduate midfielder Jony Munoz for a shot that curled just left of the left post.

In the final two minutes, San Diego State continually cleared threats until a Lopez corner kick set up GCU's last gasp, which ended with Rouse and sophomore forward Solo Bidanessy going to the ground on attempts in the box.

"The improvement from how the team is playing now compared to six weeks ago, I'm really pleased with it," Kiefer said. "I want to see us get a reward for it."

"I have not seen it not go your way when you keep getting better and better."

Senior Night honors 5

Senor Night recognized five Lopes before their final regular-season home match.

The group included Ben Assane, Sergio Martinez, Jony Muñoz and Lalo Serrano but featured goalkeeper Leon Schmidt, who has been a three-year starter at GCU.

Schmidt ranks seventh nationally for career saves (214) among active Division I players. After ranking 16th nationally last season for save percentage (.800), Schmidt is 15th this season at .810.

"I felt a little bit melancholy, but then as soon as the game started, I was enjoying it," Schmidt said. "I've met a lot of people at GCU that I really, really like. I really want to stay here for next year. I think I found my place. I found people I call my family. The more and more I think about it, the more I'm glad that I came back to the U.S. and come back to this program."

After transferring from Coastal Carolina in 2021, Schmidt earned his bachelor's degree in Business Management and is working toward a master's degree in Business Analytics. He has managed that around a career that will hit 5,000 minutes in Thursday's match.

"I really got to know Leon well in the spring and built a good personal relationship," Kiefer said. "I've seen such growth in him. He's always been an excellent goalkeeper, but it's how he leads, communicates and stays locked in on guys. I wish I had more time with him because he's been very instrumental in helping the culture of the group."