UC Riverside goes for best non-conference record in school history

Big West Men’s Soccer Update for Week 4

Week 4 of Big West Conference men’s soccer action saw the end to three unbeaten streaks as UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton, and UC Santa Barbara each dropped a game over the weekend. In tournament action, Big West teams participated in the University of Akron Tournament, the South Florida Tournament in Tampa, Fla., and the Lakeside Classic in Evanston, Ill. Overall, Big West teams were 4-6-2 in one of the toughest weeks of the season.

Despite losing 2-0 to No. 17 South Florida in the South Florida Tournament, UCI still improved its overall conference-leading record to 7-1-0 on the strength of a 2-1 defeat of Florida Gulf Coast to open the tournament on Friday. The Anteaters boast a 0.875 winning percentage and a solid grasp on the number one spot in the conference. In the national polls, UCI ranks No. 8 in the NSCAA/Continental Tire poll, No. 10 in the Soccer America and Soccer Times polls and No. 13 in the College Soccer News poll. The weekend was good for goalkeeper Andrew Fontein, who has recorded all seven Anteater wins this season. The wins give him 41 career, second only to UC Santa Barbara’s Dan Kennedy who posted 63 wins from 2001-2004. UCI closes non-conference play on Friday, September 23, when they host UNLV.

Second place Cal State Fullerton started the weekend off by beating American University 3-0 on the first part of an East Coast swing. The Titans then lost a 2-1 heartbreaker to George Mason University for their first L of the season. The .500 weekend dropped CSF out of the Top 25, where they had ranked No. 24 on the Soccer America poll, although they did receive votes in the Soccer Times and NSCAA/Continental Tire polls. Their 5-1-1 non-conference record is the biggest improvement over the 2010 season in the Big West. A year before the Titans went 2-5-2, and they still have two non-conference games left, hosting Denver on Friday and Cal State Bakersfield next week.

Pre-season favorite UC Santa Barbara lost their only game of the week on Friday, going down to No. 16 UCLA by a 6-2 margin. Previously ranked as high as No. 6, the Gauchos dropped to No. 8 on the College Soccer News poll, No. 9 in the Soccer America poll, No. 11 on Soccer Times and No. 13 with NSCAA/Continental Tire. UCSB has relied on just three players for the majority of the team’s offense, with eight of 11 goals being scored by David Opoku, Sam Garza and Luis Silva. The three have also recorded 55 of the team’s 90 shots on goal. For UCSB, non-conference action closes this weekend as the Gauchos host San Diego on Friday and Sacramento State on Sunday.

Elsewhere around the conference, Cal Poly split two games in the University of Akron Tournament, beating Syracuse 2-1 on Friday before losing 1-0 to host Akron (ranked No. 3) on Sunday. The win against Syracuse was the first time the Mustangs have scored more than one goal this season, with all seven games ending up scoreless or decided by a single mark. Cal Poly’s final non-conference game will be Sunday against Denver. In the Lakeside Classic, UC Davis dropped both games, losing to Northwestern and Northern Illinois by identical 1-0 scores. The Aggies complete non-conference play on Friday when they host Sacramento State.

UC Riverside had a better week, beating UNLV at home 2-1 on Friday and then tying San Jose State 1-1 to end the weekend. The Highlanders are on track for their best non-conference record ever, with a chance to top the 4 wins in 2003 when they visit North Florida and Jacksonville. In their only game of the week, Cal State Northridge played Cal State Bakersfield to a 2-2 stalemate. The Matadors close out their non-conference schedule by hosting SMU and Seattle.

This week two more Big West games went into double overtime, Cal State Northridge’s 2-2 tie with Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday and UC Riverside’s 1-1 tie with San Jose State. Add in UC Davis’s 1-0 overtime loss to No. 13 Northern Illinois in the Lakeside Classic, and Big West teams have been involved in 17 extra-time games out of 47 non-conference matches – 13 of them double OT. Every team in the conference has played at least one overtime game, with UC Davis in five of them.

In individual honors, Thomas Ramos, a Cal State Northridge sophomore midfielder (Phoenix, AZ/Pinnacle HS) finally knocked UCI players off the podium for the Big West Offensive Player of the Week. Ramos ignited a Matador comeback in their 2-2 tie with Bakersfield on Thursday. The sophomore scored just before halftime to close the game to 2-1 and then assisted on the game-tying score in the second half. It was the first three-point performance by a Matador since a game on October 2, 2010.

Big West Defensive Player of the Week honors went to another goalkeeper, UC Riverside’s Cody Suppé, a senior from Ayala HS in Chino, Calif. In the Highlander’s 1-1 tie with San Jose State, Suppé blocked 11 shots, following up on his four saves against UNLV. The Sunday effort was the third highest save total in UCR history and gave Suppé an 0.92 GAA and a 0.882 save percentage on the season.

So far this year, Big West teams hold a 26-13-8 record in non-conference play, one of the best records in college soccer this season. Every team in the conference has equaled or improved its record over 2010, with several still having multiple contests remaining. With the majority of those scheduled for home games where Big West teams hold a 14-3-6 advantage, 2011 should be a year to remember.

The Big West Conference is a nine-member Division I conference that is currently the only athletic conference with all of its members in one state (California). In 2012 the conference will add the University of Hawai’i at Manoa – its first non-California school since 2005 – and Cal State Sacramento. The Big West currently sponsors 15 sports, including men’s and women’s soccer, basketball, and track and field.