2022 Big West Men's Soccer Schedule | Standings | Stats | Week 10 Notes (.pdf)
What 2 Watch 4
The final week of the regular season features six matches, with one on Wednesday and five on Saturday. All games are scheduled to be aired on ESPN+.
On Wednesday, UC Irvine (4-3, 12 pts.) hosts UC Santa Barbara (4-0-3, 15 pts.) in a make-up game starting at 6 p.m. The originally scheduled match on Oct. 15 was postponed due to lightning.
Four of the five matches on Saturday, the final day of the regular season in The Big West, will start at 7 p.m, with the Causeway Classic featuring UC Davis at Sacramento State starting at 3 p.m. The name of the rivalry refers to the Yolo Causeway, a causeway over the Yolo Bypass on Interstate 80, which connects Davis and Sacramento, California. The matchups at night to conclude the regular season are UC Irvine at UC San Diego, CSU Bakersfield at Cal Poly, UC Santa Barbara at UC Riverside and CSUN at Cal State Fullerton.
All games are scheduled to be aired on ESPN+; check listings for specific game information.
Last Week Rewind
Sacramento State won two games in shutout fashion to move to .500 in conference play. The Hornets defeated Cal Poly 4-0 Wednesday. Dominic Vegaalban had one goal and two assists. The other three scores were by Francisco Magana, Austin Wehner and Genaro Alfaro. Sacramento State escaped Cal State Fullerton with a 1-0 win Saturday. Bryan Gutierrez headed in the game-winning goal with only 14 seconds remaining on the clock, assisted by Alfaro. The Defensive Player of the Week was won by Alfaro. Goalkeeper Edgar Guerra was named the Freshman of the Week for leading the defense to two shutouts.
UC Irvine also won two matches. The Anteaters came back to defeat CSU Bakersfield 2-1 Wednesday. Down by a score, Jake Means and Francesco Montanile put away goals in the 18th and 51st minute for the comeback victory. Robert Mejia recorded a brace to give UC Irvine a 2-1 win over CSUN on Saturday.
UC Santa Barbara enjoyed an undefeated week. The Gauchos trounced UC Davis 3-0 Wednesday. Finn Ballard McBride was responsible for all three scores, putting away two goals and assisting on the other. Ballard McBride was clutch in the 55th edition of The Greatest Rivalry in College Soccer as UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly tied 1-1. With the Mustangs holding a 1-0 lead, Ballard McBride scored the equalizer in the 87th minute for the Gauchos to come away with a tie. With three goals and one assist on the week, Ballard McBride was named the Offensive Player of the Week.
UC Riverside also went unbeaten on the week. The Highlanders drew, 1-1, with Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday. Oscar Penate scored the goal, assisted by Issa Badawiya and Brendan Clark. In Saturday’s 2-0 win at CSU Bakersfield, Clark scored a goal and assisted on Alfonso Ramirez’s score.
CSUN defeated UC San Diego 1-0 Wednesday. Jamar Ricketts scored the lone goal in the game in the 85th minute. It was Rickett’s third game-winning goal of the season. Goalkeeper Cooper Wenzel picked up his sixth shutout of the season.
UC San Diego bounced back to defeat UC Davis 1-0 on Saturday. Carter Jacobus scored the goal for the Tritons.
Poll Position
UC Santa Barbara (9-2-5, 4-0-3 Big West) is receiving votes in the latest United Soccer Coaches (USC) Poll, released on Oct. 25. The Gauchos have been present in every edition of the national poll and were ranked as high as No. 18 (9/13) this season. Click here to view the United Soccer Coaches Top 25.
Four Big West teams are featured in the USC Far West Region rankings. UC Santa Barbara tops all Big West teams in third. Sacramento State, Cal State Fullerton and CSUN occupy the seventh, eighth and ninth spots, respectively. Click here to view the United Soccer Coaches Regional Rankings.
Playoff Picture
Currently, three teams in UC Santa Barbara, UC Riverside and CSUN have secured berths into the 2022 Big West Men’s Soccer Championship.
UC Snta Barbara can secure the regular season title and the top seed with a win on Wednesday at UC Irvine.
Cal State Fullerton, UC Irvine, Sacramento State and UC Davis will vye for the final three seeds. CSU Bakersfield and Cal Poly have been eliminated from contention for the conference championship.
UC San Diego is ineligible to play in the conference postseason or NCAA Championship until the 2024 season due to reclassification to Division I.
Big West Goalies
Several Big West goalkeepers rank in the national top 25 in several categories. Cal State Fullerton’s Tetsuya Kadono tops the NCAA in goalie minutes played with 1547:32. UC Riverside’s Carlos Gonzalez, CSUN’s Cooper Wenzel and UC Santa Barbara’s Leroy Zeller are tied for third with 1440:00. UC Irvine’s Luke Pruter is ninth with 1350:00. CSU Bakersfield’s Filippo Dadone is 24th with 1313:06. Just missing the top-25 is UC Davis’ Charles Janssen at 1261:17 in 27th.
Wenzel is 14th in the nation with 63 saves. Dadone is 22nd with 58 saves. Kadono, Gonzalez Zeller and Pruter are right behind the duo at 56, 55, 53 and 52 saves, respectively.
Zeller is tied for seventh in the nation in shutouts with seven. Right behind Zeller is Wenzel with sixth, tied for 18th. Janssen and Kadono have five shutouts each.
Gaucho Goals
Featuring head coach Tim Vom Steeg’s overload offense, UC Santa Barbara has scored more than two goals in nine matches this season. The Gauchos have scored 30 goals on the season and rank 19th in the NCAA in goal differential at +18.
Forward Finn Ballard McBride has compiled 11 goals on the season, fourth most in NCAA. Ballard McBride is second in the nation in game-winning goals with five.
Titans in Cruz Control
Aided by a 10-0 win over LIFE Pacific (NAIA), Cal State Fullerton is featured in the national top 25 in numerous team categories including assists per game (2.28), penalty kick percentage (1.000), shots per game (15.61), total assists (41), total goals (33) and total points (107).
Sebastian Cruz is second in The Big West in goals with eight. Reziq Banihani is tied for fourth with five goals. Julian Madrigal is second in the conference with seven assists, followed by Cruz and Banihani with six each.
The Rivalry Draws a Crowd
The Greatest Rivalry in College Soccer will always draw a big crowd. Sep. 21 was no different as a total of 10,359 attended the match at Alex G. Spanos Stadium. UC Santa Barbara came away with the win in a 2-1 thriller, with two goals in the final 90 seconds. After Cal Poly equalized at 88:35 on a penalty kick, the Gauchos scored the game-winning goal with 12 seconds remaining.
It was the 25th most attended NCAA men’s soccer regular season game. The matchup between the two teams are responsible for 18 of the top 25 largest crowds in NCAA men’s soccer history. On Oct. 22, 7,535 fans packed Harder Stadium for the rivalry.
Preseason Prognostications
UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine are tied for first in a preseason poll of The Big West’s 10 men’s soccer head coaches.
The Gauchos (12-5-4, 6-1-2 BW) and Anteaters (8-8-4, 6-1-2 BW) each finished with 71 total points in the poll. UCSB earned six first-place votes, while UCI received three. Last year, the two teams drew to a 1-1 double overtime stalemate and shared the title with identical conference records of 6-1-2 in the regular season. In the title match of The Big West Championship, the Gauchos defeated the Anteaters 4-0 to earn the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The coaches also voted on an 11-person Preseason All-Big West squad. UCSB had three representatives in senior midfielder Thaabit Baartman, junior forward Finn Ballard McBride and senior defender Henry Davies. Last season, Baartman compiled seven goals and five assists for 19 points, while Ballard McBride tallied nine goals and seven assists for 25 points. Davies, the lone defender on the preseason team, anchors the back line and was the Big West Defensive Player of the Year, bouying the Gauchos to a 0.95 goals-against average in 2021. All three were All-Big West First Team honorees last season.
The Anteaters had three selections as well in senior midfielders Ashish Chattha and Robert Mejia, and sophomore midfielder Francesco Montanile. Chattha was an All-Big West First Team selection last season after recording four goals and two assists for 10 points. Montanile had two goals and two assists to collect Freshman of the Year and Second Team honors in 2021. Mejia transfers to UC Irvine from UC Davis for his final season of eligibility. As an Aggie last season, Mejia was named the Midfielder of the Year, recording five goals and six assists for 16 points.
UC Davis was picked to finish third with 49 points and senior midfielder Andy Velasquez earned a spot on the preseason team. Velasquez was an All-Big West Honorable Mention selection and compiled five goals and two assists for 12 points in 2021.
UC Riverside was fourth in the poll with 47 points and senior midfielder Leopoldo Hernandez receiving a place on the preseason squad. Last season, Hernandez started every game and put away four goals and two assist en route to an All-Big West Second Team selection. Sacramento State came in fifth with 46 points, one point shy of the Highlanders.
Cal Poly received the lone first-place vote outside of the Gauchos and Anteaters for 44 points and sophomore forward Drew Patterson earned preseason team honors. Patterson tallied two goals and two assists in 2021.
CSUN (41), Cal State Fullerton (35), CSU Bakersfield (28) and UC San Diego (18) finish the rest of the poll. Cal State Fullerton junior midfielder Sebastian Cruz and CSU Bakersfield senior midfielder Carlos Armendariz round out the preseason team.
Cruz was the leading goal scorer for the Titans last season with seven goals, including three game-winners, to go along with three assists for an All-Big West Honorable Mention distinction. Armendariz scored four times and a member of the All-Big West Second Team in 2021.
2021 Rewind
The 2021 season saw UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine share the regular season crown with identical conference records of 6-1-2 for 20 points. The two teams’ regular season matchup ended in a 1-1 double overtime draw. UC Santa Barbara earned the top seed in The Big West Championship via tie-breaking procedure.
The Gauchos and Anteaters defeated fifth-seeded UC Davis and sixth-seeded UC Riverside, respectively, in the semifinal round to get matched up with the other for the title and the conference’s automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
In the finals, UCSB defeated UCI with a 4-0 decision to win its second Big West Championship title. Gaucho forward Finn Ballard McBride was named MVP.
UC Santa Barbara drew UCLA in the opening round of the NCAA Championship. The Gauchos unfortunately suffered a 2-1 overtime loss to the Bruins.
Aguilar Drafted
In January 2022, CSUN midfielder Giovanni Aguilar was selected with the 49th overall pick in the second round of the Major League Soccer (MLS) SuperDraft by the Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
In four years with the Matadors, Aguilar amassed three goals and 11 assists. He is a three-time All-Big West honoree (2017, 2018, 2021) and was an All-Freshman Team selection in 2017. Aguilar was an All-Big West First Team member in 2021 with three goals and three assists.
Aguilar is the 85th overall player from The Big West and 14th Matador to be taken in any MLS Draft (SuperDraft and Supplemental) since 2000. It was also CSUN’s second consecutive year producing an MLS SuperDraft pick. Forward Danny Trejo was selected in the first round, 14th overall, of the 2021 SuperDraft by Los Angeles FC.
Also in Professional News
Aside from Aguilar, several others from The Big West Class of 2021 signed with professional teams.
Cal Poly midfielder Neil Boyal signed with Central Valley Fuego FC based in Fresno, Calif., playing in USL League One (third-tier of the American Soccer Pyramid). Boyal was an All-Big West Second Team member in 2021, compiling one goal and five assists.
Cal Poly defender Andrew Forth is now in a contract with Orlando City B of MLS Next Pro’s, a league consisting reserve squads of MLS organizations. Forth earned All-Big West Second Team honors in 2021, helping the Mustangs to six shutouts and a program record of just 15 goals conceded.
CSU Bakersfield defender Eric Whelan signed a contract with Goulburn Valley Suns FC out of Victoria, Australia, competing in the Victorian National Premier League, the second highest level of competitive football in the country. Whelan played all 17 games for the Roadrunners in 2021, his lone year at CSUB as a graduate student. |
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