UC Santa Barbara's second consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament and Cal Poly's record sixth Big West regular season championship highlighted the 2009 women's soccer season.
NOTEWORTHY
Keep An Eye On
Maricela Padilla, Pacific
Padilla was a strong candidate for both Big West Offensive Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year honors before she suffered a season-ending knee injury in the conference opener versus Long Beach State. Padilla scored the only goal in that 1-0 win against the 49ers, but went down in the early portion of the second half in a battle for a loose ball. Prior to her injury, Padilla was an offensive force with 18 points on eight goals and two assists. Despite missing seven games, she still finished fifth in the Big West in points and fourth in goals. Her accomplishments were acknowledged when the all-conference awards came out and she earned honorable mention recognition. With a full recovery from her injury, Padilla is without question one of the Big West's top players entering the 2010 season.
MORE NOTABLES
UC Santa Barbara Makes Second Straight NCAA Trip
UC Santa Barbara earned its second straight NCAA Tournament appearance, and ninth overall, representing the Big West against Mountain West Conference foe Brigham Young in the first round. The two teams played each other at Stanford’s Laird Q. Cagan Stadium where the Cougars emerged with a 2-0 victory over the Gauchos. It marked the second straight year that UCSB trekked up to the Bay Area to play its postseason game at Stanford. In 2008, the Gauchos lost 2-0 to the host Cardinal in first round action.
More On The Gaucho Postseason Run
The Gauchos ended a 17-year hiatus from the NCAA Tournament when they reached the field of 64 in 2008. No such wait would take place this season as UCSB’s repeat appearance in the NCAA Tournament gave the program consecutive trips for the first time since appearing in three straight from 1989-91. The Gauchos also earned four consecutive NCAA berths from 1984-87.
UCSB Repeats As Big West Tournament Champion
Penalty kick shootouts have been working like a charm for the UC Santa Barbara women’s soccer program. For the second straight season, the Gauchos earned the Big West’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by virtue of being the conference’s tournament champion. After defeating Cal State Northridge 2-1 in semifinal road action, the Gauchos shifted their attention up the 101 Freeway to San Luis Obispo and tournament top seed Cal Poly. Ninety minutes of regulation and two 10-minute overtimes could not break a 1-1 deadlock, so the two schools engaged in a winner-take-all penalty kick showdown. The Gauchos edged the Mustangs 5-4, besting their Central Coast rival in PK’s for the second consecutive year. UCSB defeated CP, 5-4, in PK’s in the 2008 semifinal and outlasted Long Beach State, 6-5, in another shootout to determine the 2008 title game.
MOST BIG WEST TOURNAMENT TITLES
Cal Poly 3
Cal State Fullerton 3
UC Santa Barbara 2
UC Irvine 1
Fab Freshmen Infuse UC Irvine With Optimism
UC Irvine head coach Scott Juniper has molded a young Anteater program into a Big West contender. The ‘Eaters reached the semifinals of the Big West Tournament thanks to a potent offense which led the conference in goals (37), assists (29) and points (103). The primary goal scorers for UCI were freshmen, as Dana Sanderlin, Devon Delarosa and Mar Rodriguez combined for 15 goals. In all, freshmen contributed 18 of UCI’s 37 goals on the season. Sanderlin tied for the team lead in points with 16 on six goals and four assists.
Cal Poly Wins Sixth Big West Regular Season Title
Cal Poly captured its sixth regular season conference title on the final day of the league ledger with a 2-0 win at Central Coast rival UC Santa Barbara. The Mustangs have won more regular season titles than any other Big West member since the conference began sponsoring women’s soccer in 1996. All six titles – 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2009 – have been won outright. Cal State Fullerton, which has won five titles, shared the championship on two occasions.
MOST BIG WEST REGULAR SEASON TITLES
Cal Poly 6
Cal State Fullerton 5
Long Beach State 3
UC Santa Barbara 2
Pacific 1
Crozier Leads In Conference Winning Percentage
Cal Poly head coach Alex Crozier has consistently shaped a winner considering the Mustangs have posted winning seasons 12 times in the 14 years the Big West has sponsored women’s soccer. Crozier is the Big West leader in all-time overall victories (162) and conference victories (73), and after a 7-1 first place showing in the league standings in 2009, he now owns the league record for conference winning percentage. Crozier took over the mantle from former Cal State Fullerton mentor Ali Khosroshahin, who had a .710 (34-13-3) winning percentage from 2001-06. Crozier is 73-24-15 (.719) in Big West games.
ALL-TIME CONFERENCE WINNING PERCENTAGE
Coach, School Yrs. Record Pct.
Alex Crozier, CP 14 73-24-15 .719
Ali Khosroshahin, CSF 6 34-13-3 .710
Paul Stumpf, UCSB 11 55-28-8 .648
John Hedlund, UNT 4 17-10-3 .617
Terry Davila, CSUN 2 9-7-0 .563
bold denotes active head coach
Shutout Streak To Remember
Cal Poly’s successful season featuring 14 victories, a Big West regular season championship and a trip to the Big West Tournament championship game also included seven straight shutouts by Mustang goalkeeper Coral Hoover. She finished with 11 shutouts on the year, tying a Big West single-season record.
Making The Most Of An Opportunity
Cynthia Jacobo figured her chance would come in 2010. After all, freshman goalkeeper for Cal State Northridge was redshirting the 2009 season. But things suddenly changed when CSUN lost its top two goalkeepers to injury early in the conference schedule. The team turned to its third string netminder in a 1-0 loss to Pacific on Oct. 9. On Oct. 11 against UC Davis, Jacobo gave up her redshirt and moved into a starting role for the final seven games. How did she perform? She reeled off five straight shutouts against Big West opponents and sported a scoreless streak of over 550 minutes. Jacobo finished the season with a 0.30 goals against average and was named Big West Freshman of the Year.
VanBuskirk Tops Big West In Goals And Points
UC Davis senior forward Rochelle VanBuskirk had the best season of her career in 2009, leading the Big West with 13 goals and 30 points. She missed tying the school’s single-season record for goals by only two. VanBuskirk became the first Aggie in school history to be named All-Big West First Team.
Ties A Plenty
Cal State Fullerton set a school record with five ties in 2009, missing the Big West record by one shared by four teams. The last team to record six draws was the 2006 UC Santa Barbara edition which finished 7-7-6.