{"id":430994,"date":"2026-08-12T19:52:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T19:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/430994\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T19:52:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T19:52:13","slug":"spartans-picked-as-co-preseason-favorites-flores-thomas-axelson-fernandez-named-to-mw-watch-list-sjsu-athletics-official-athletics-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/430994\/","title":{"rendered":"Spartans Picked as Co-Preseason Favorites, Flores-Thomas, Axelson, Fernandez Named to MW Watch List – SJSU Athletics – Official Athletics Website"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Artboard<\/p>\n

LAS VEGAS –\u00a0The San Jos\u00e9 State Spartans were picked as co-favorites in the Mountain West preseason coaches\u2019 poll and Ruben Flores-Thomas<\/a>, Ronin Axelson<\/a> and Angel Fernandez<\/a> were named to the Mountain West Watch List the conference announced on Wednesday afternoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Every Spartan home game and road conference game will be streamed live on MW+<\/a>. Additionally, tickets for each home game can be purchased here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the preseason coaches poll, the Spartans tied with Grand Canyon as preseason favorites and received two first place votes. Below is the full results of the coaches\u2019 poll:<\/p>\n

Pl.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Team (1st place votes) \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Points<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 San Jos\u00e9 State (2)\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a022
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 Grand Canyon (4)\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 22
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 UC Davis\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a015
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 UNLV\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a014
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 Air Force\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 10
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 Utah Tech\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a07<\/p>\n

This season marks the Spartans\u2019 first season in the Mountain West after previously being a part of the WAC. Last season, the Spartans finished with a record of 12-4-4, earning 12 wins in a season for the first time since 2003. The Spartans returned to the WAC Championship game for the third time in the last four seasons and had four players named First Team All-Far West Region.<\/p>\n

The Spartans will open the 2026 season on August 21 at Santa Barbara. SJSU\u2019s home opener will take place on August 30 against Saint Mary\u2019s at the Spartan Soccer Complex.<\/p>\n

\"Artboard<\/p>\n

Ronin Axelson<\/a>, Goalkeeper, Redshirt Senior, Fairfax, Calif., Archie Williams HS<\/p>\n

Joined the Spartans in 2022-23
\nHas a career record of 3-3-3 to go along with 24 saves and three shutouts
\nSaw action in three games last season, making two starts and collecting four saves
\nMade six starts for the Spartans in 2024, including in all three WAC tournament matches<\/p>\n

Angel Fernandez<\/a>, Midfielder, Senior, Hayward, Calif., Castro Valley HS<\/p>\n

Joined the Spartans in 2023, playing in 52 games and making 36 starts
\nHas three goals and six assists in his Spartan career
\nStarted 18 out of 19 games played last season, collecting a goal and three assists
\nScored the game-winning goal in the Spartans\u2019 season opener against Cal Poly in 2025 (8\/21)<\/p>\n

Ruben Flores-Thomas<\/a>, Defender, Senior, Chico, Calif., Chico Senior HS<\/p>\n

Joined the Spartans in 2023
\nAppeared in 45 games, making 42 starts for the Spartans
\nHas one goal and four assists in his career
\nStarted in all 20 appearances last season
\nNamed WAC Defensive Player of the Week after recording a goal and an assist in the Spartans\u2019 2-0 shutout win against CSU Bakersfield (8\/29\/25)
\nHelped the Spartans record eight shutouts last season<\/p>\n

#AllSpartans<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS –\u00a0The San Jos\u00e9 State Spartans were picked as co-favorites in the Mountain West preseason coaches\u2019 poll…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430995,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[88,90,89],"class_list":["post-430994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430994\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}