Published for San Jose Earthquakes II fans — October 2026
By Toxlay Sports Editorial Team · Last updated October 23, 2026
⚽ Quakes II Fans — Never Say Die Isn’t a Song, It’s a Scoreline!
The Quakes came home to San Jose in 2026, snatched the last playoff spot with back-to-back shutouts, then played the wildest game of the MLS NEXT Pro season — a 4–4 play-in classic won on penalties. White shirts, swirl colors — this is the year to wear the revival.
The Club
San Jose Earthquakes II is the reserve team of MLS club San Jose Earthquakes, founded on December 6, 2021, as one of the founding sides of MLS NEXT Pro — the third tier of the U.S. soccer pyramid and the bridge between the academy and the first team. Quakes II play in the league’s Western Conference, in the Pacific Division, and the pathway is the point: this is where the next generation of Earthquakes earns its stripes in real professional matches.
The club’s recent history has a twist no other reserve team can match. In March 2024 the Earthquakes handed the team’s operations to the East Bay-based Town Group, and the side spent two seasons playing as The Town FC out of Saint Mary’s Stadium in Moraga. Then, on January 20, 2026, the Quakes brought it all home: the original Quakes II name was revived, operations came back in-house, and the team returned to San Jose and PayPal Park, the first team’s stadium. The shirt on the field changed with it — more on that below — and so did the feeling around the club. This is San Jose’s team again.
The man in the dugout is a constant through all of it. Dan DeGeer has coached this side since April 2022, passed 100 matches in charge during 2025, and was a finalist for the 2025 MLS NEXT Pro Coach of the Year award. Defender Alejandro Cano, who wore the captain’s armband in the 2026 playoff quarterfinal, leads a squad built almost entirely from Bay Area and academy talent.
The identity comes straight from the parent club’s songbook: “Never Say Die,” the Quakes anthem written by Bay Area punk icon Lars Frederiksen. No MLS NEXT Pro side lives it harder. Quakes II have reached the playoffs four straight seasons (2023, 2024, 2025, 2026) and won back-to-back Pacific Division titles in 2024 and 2025. The honest line, though, is this: the club is still chasing its first MLS NEXT Pro Cup — a model development side that keeps knocking on the door.
And then there is the shirt. Search for the San Jose Earthquakes II jersey in 2026 and you will find one of the most distinctive looks in American soccer: a white adidas shirt washed in a psychedelic swirl of sky blue and pink across the front, black adidas stripes on the shoulders, the black Quakes shield on the chest — and no front sponsor at all. Clean, loud and unmistakably San Jose.
⭐ FAN FAVORITE
#90 Bohane — San Jose Earthquakes II Style Jersey
$59.99
The breakout star in the swirl shirt — sky blue and pink waves over white, the Quakes shield and 90 on the back. Fan-inspired apparel made for Quakes II fans.
Last Season (2025): The Town’s Finest Hour
Playing as The Town FC, San Jose’s reserve side put together the best season in its history. The Town finished 2nd in the Western Conference — 14 wins, 6 draws and 8 losses, 59 goals scored and just 36 conceded for 52 points, club records for both wins and points in a season — and locked up a second straight Pacific Division title on the way to the No. 2 seed.
The playoff run was one game short of glory. The Town routed the defending champions North Texas SC 3–0 in the Conference Quarterfinal, then met Colorado Rapids 2 in a semifinal for the ages at PayPal Park on October 26, 2025. Twice San Jose fought back — an Adimabua-driven own goal, then a goal from Adimabua himself to make it 2–2 — before a 92nd-minute penalty and a 114th-minute strike settled it 4–2 to Colorado after extra time. Nonso Adimabua finished as the team’s top scorer with 13 goals, and DeGeer was named a Coach of the Year finalist. Weeks later, the Town era ended and Quakes II came home.
Best Players Right Now
Zach Bohane — #90, midfielder/forward. The breakout star of 2026 and the face of the revived Quakes II. The Monte Sereno local arrived from Stanford — where he produced 19 goals and 19 assists in 72 matches — and scored 12 regular-season goals in his first professional season, tied for ninth in the entire league. Then he owned the playoffs: a penalty, an assist and the winning shootout kick in the play-in, and San Jose’s goal in the quarterfinal at Austin.
Nonso Adimabua — #32, centre-forward. The Nigerian striker who carried this attack through the Town FC years — the club’s top scorer in 2025 with 13 goals — and the senior head of the 2026 front line. A first-team-roster player who also wears No. 32 with the Earthquakes’ MLS squad, Adimabua is the reference point every young Quakes II forward measures himself against.
Tomo Allen — #70, centre-forward. The 18-year-old from Danville whose brace dragged San Jose into the quarterfinals: a sixth-minute header and a 61st-minute long-range rocket in the play-in classic that the league’s own channels captioned “BANGERS ONLY.” Austin FC’s official preview named Allen alongside Bohane as San Jose’s top scorers — and on January 1, 2027, he becomes a first-team Homegrown player.
Alejandro Cano — #66, defender, captain. The armband and the anchor. Cano logged a team-high 27 appearances in 2026, marshaling a defense that conceded just 36 goals all season — and he led the side out in the playoff quarterfinal at Austin.
Nate Crockford — #22, goalkeeper. The shootout hero. Crockford made two saves in the play-in shootout against Tacoma to send San Jose through, and the man on a first-team contract started between the posts all the way to Austin.
Jermaine Spivey — #77, forward. The extra-time spark: his first professional goal, in the 104th minute of the play-in and assisted by Bohane, briefly put San Jose ahead 4–3 in the wildest game of the season.
Star Spotlight
The local kid. Bohane’s story writes itself: a Bay Area kid from Monte Sereno, a Stanford star with 19 goals and 19 assists in college, signed his first pro contract with the revived Quakes II in March 2026 — and immediately became the team’s leading scorer. Twelve regular-season goals, tied-ninth in MLS NEXT Pro, in year one.
September 13–20, 2026 — the surge. With two matchdays left, San Jose sat outside the playoff picture. Bohane scored twice in a 4–0 rout of Real Monarchs, then scored again in the 2–0 Decision Day win at Whitecaps FC 2 that dragged the Quakes from the outside into the No. 8 seed and a home play-in. Never say die, indeed.
October 11, 2026 — the play-in classic. Bohane converted an 11th-minute penalty, set up Spivey’s extra-time goal, then calmly scored the winning kick in the shootout as San Jose beat Tacoma 4–4 (3–1 on penalties). His verdict to mlsnextpro.com: “It wasn’t the prettiest game of soccer… Our keeper Nate came up huge there at the end.”
October 18, 2026 — nearly the upset of the playoffs. Bohane’s unassisted 24th-minute goal at Parmer Field put the No. 8 seeds ahead of the regular-season champions, Austin FC II, on their own turf. It took an 88th-minute winner to end San Jose’s season. A first pro campaign that announced a first-team future.
🔥 More Fan Favorites
More Quakes II stars, same white, sky blue and pink.
This Season (2026): Home Again, and One Game From a Miracle
The first season back as Quakes II was a rollercoaster that finished at full speed. San Jose ended the regular season 8th in the Western Conference on 42 points — 11 regulation wins, three shootout wins and 51 goals scored against only 36 conceded — a record built on a mean defense and an attack that could explode without warning: twice in 2026 the Quakes hung six on an opponent, beating Whitecaps FC 2 6–1 in May and Sporting Kansas City II 6–1 in July, two of the league’s 11 five-goal wins all season.
None of it looked likely in September. Home defeats to Tacoma Defiance and Ventura County FC left San Jose outside the playoff picture with two matchdays to play — and then came the surge: 4–0 over Real Monarchs, 2–0 at Whitecaps FC 2 on Decision Day, and the No. 8 seed. What followed on October 11 at PayPal Park was the game of the MLS NEXT Pro season: Allen and Bohane for 2–0, a Tacoma brace to level, Allen’s long-range second, a Tacoma header to force extra time, Spivey’s first pro goal, a 110th-minute equalizer — 4–4 — and Crockford’s two shootout saves to win it 3–1 on penalties. A week later in Austin, Bohane’s 24th-minute stunner had the No. 8 seeds dreaming, before the champions rescued a 2–1 win on 88 minutes. The season ended there — but the revival is real.
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Mark Your Calendar
San Jose’s 2026 season is over — but the MLS NEXT Pro Playoffs roll on without them, and every remaining match streams live on OneFootball.com and MLSNEXTPro.com. Here is what comes next:
Sunday, October 25, 2026 — Conference Semifinals. Four matches decide the finalists: Chattanooga FC vs. CT United FC (Finley Stadium, 5:00 p.m. ET), Crown Legacy FC vs. Columbus Crew 2 (Sportsplex at Matthews, 7:00 p.m. ET), Austin FC II vs. Los Angeles FC 2 (Parmer Field, 7:30 p.m. CT) and Portland Timbers2 vs. Ventura County FC (Providence Park, 7:00 p.m. PT). Quakes fans will be watching Austin — the side that ended San Jose’s season — begin its march as the West’s top seed.
October 30 – November 1, 2026 — Conference Finals. One match per conference, hosted by the higher remaining seed. The Western final could yet be staged by the Austin team that broke Quakes hearts — win there, and the champions host everything.
November 6–8, 2026 — MLS NEXT Pro Cup. The championship match, hosted by the finalist with the most regular-season points. San Jose’s own 2026 chapter is already written — play-in winners, quarterfinalists, and the team that gave the champions their hardest night of the playoffs.
Biggest Rivalries — The Wars
1. Tacoma Defiance — the four-act war of 2026. The Pacific Division rivals met four times in 2026, and Tacoma took the first three by the slimmest of margins: a 0–0 draw in Tacoma in March that the Defiance won on penalties, a 1–0 Tacoma win in Monterey in July, and a 2–1 Tacoma win in September. Then came the play-in at PayPal Park on October 11: San Jose blew leads of 2–0, 3–2 and 4–3, survived 4–4 after extra time, and won the shootout 3–1 behind Crockford’s two saves. The club’s own headline said it best — avenging three regular-season defeats. This is the war that defines the 2026 team.
2. Austin FC II — the champions who ended it. The regular-season champions (65 points) crossed San Jose’s path three times: a 1–1 draw in San Jose in August that Austin took on penalties, a 1–0 Austin win on August 23 through Diego Abarca, and the playoff quarterfinal on October 18 — Austin used its Pick-Your-Opponent privilege to choose San Jose, fell behind to Bohane’s 24th-minute stunner, and needed an 88th-minute winner to survive 2–1. The measuring stick for where Quakes II must go next.
3. Los Angeles FC 2 — the California clash. The fellow California reserve side were the guests for San Jose’s 2026 home opener at PayPal Park on March 8, and the return fixture on August 30 finished San Jose 3–2 LAFC 2 at PayPal Park — one of the wins that kept the playoff chase alive when the season was on the line.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where does San Jose Earthquakes II play?
In San Jose, California. For 2026 the club’s home base is PayPal Park — the Earthquakes’ MLS stadium — where the home opener and the October 11 play-in were played; a few 2026 home dates were staged at CEFCU Stadium (San Jose State) and one in Monterey. In 2024–25 the team played as The Town FC, mostly at Saint Mary’s Stadium in Moraga. Check the fixture before traveling — the venue genuinely changes.
Who is San Jose Earthquakes II’s best player?
Forward/midfielder Zach Bohane (No. 90). The Stanford product scored 12 regular-season goals in his first professional season, then ran the playoffs: a penalty, an assist and the winning shootout kick in the 4–4 play-in classic against Tacoma, and San Jose’s goal in the quarterfinal at Austin.
What has San Jose Earthquakes II won?
Back-to-back Pacific Division titles in 2024 and 2025 (as The Town FC) and four straight playoff appearances from 2023 to 2026 — but not the MLS NEXT Pro Cup yet. The best playoff runs are the Conference Semifinals of 2023, 2024 and 2025; in 2026 the side won the league’s first Western play-in and fell 2–1 at Austin in the quarterfinals.
How can I get tickets or watch San Jose Earthquakes II?
Start at the club’s official hub, sjearthquakes.com/earthquakesii. MLS NEXT Pro matches stream live on MLSNEXTPro.com and OneFootball — the league confirmed all 2026 playoff matches, including MLS NEXT Pro Cup (November 6–8), air on those two platforms.
⚽ San Jose Earthquakes II Fan Shop
The full Quakes II trio — Bohane, Adimabua and Allen in white, sky blue and pink.
Sources & official links: San Jose Earthquakes official site · MLS NEXT Pro official site · San Jose Earthquakes II club hub & tickets
Never say die is not a slogan in San Jose — it is a way of life. White shirts, swirl colors, see you at PayPal Park in 2027.
