2022 Big West Men's Soccer Schedule | Standings | Stats | Postseason Notes (.pdf)
Highlanders Draw Portland in First Round
The 48-team field for the 2022 NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Championship is set, and UC Riverside, representing The Big West, will make a trip to the Pacific Northwest to take on Portland in the first round on Thursday, Nov. 17.
Portland (12-2-3) is ranked 18th in the latest United Soccer Coaches Poll and finished second in the West Coast Conference with a 6-1 league record. The advancing side between the two teams will play at eighth-seeded Oregon State (7-3-6), an at-large qualifier out of the Pac-12, on Sunday, Nov. 20.
It is the Highlanders’ second NCAA Championship appearance, both under ninth-year head coach Tim Cupello, the 2022 Big West Coach of the Year. UC Riverside fell to Pacific 1-0 in the first round in the program’s first national tournament appearance in 2018. The Highlanders are 0-1 all-time against the Pilots with a 2-1 loss in the most recent meeting in the 2019 regular season at Portland.
The 2022 NCAA Men’s College Cup, featuring the national semifinals and final, is set for Dec. 9-12 in Cary, N.C. WakeMed Soccer Park serves as host for the sixth time. Clemson is the defending champion. The 48-team field is made up of automatic qualifiers from 23 conferences, in addition to 25 teams that were selected at-large. The top 16 teams were seeded and received first-round byes.
Big West Championship Recap
No. 1-seed UC Riverside defeated No. 2-seed UC Santa Barbara 1-0 to win the 2022 Big West Championship on Nov. 12 and subsequently earned the conference’s automatic qualifier into the NCAA Championship. The Highlanders scored the lone goal of the game on a set piece as Brendan Clark found the head of Luka Lukic with less than three minutes remaining in the first half. For guiding the shutout effort in the title game, UCR goalkeeper Carlos Gonzalez was named Tournament MVP. It is UC Riverside’s second Big West Championship title, the first coming in 2018.
In the semifinal-round on Oct. 5, No. 1-seed UC Riverside defeated No. 4-seed CSUN 4-1. Noah Lopez scored in the fifth minute to put the Highlanders up early, but the Enrique Pineda and the Matadors equalized in the 40th minute. It did not take UCR long to get the lead back as Armando Ibarra found the back of the net in the 42nd minute. Two goals in the second half from Brendan Clark and Ibarra sealed the Highlander win.
In the other semifinal game, No. 2-seed UC Santa Barbara got a 2-1 overtime win over No. 3-seed UC Irvine. Nemo Philipp scored in the 28th minute for the Gaucho lead, but the Anteaters evened it up in the 57th minute with a Robert Mejia goal. UCSB won the game on an own goal from UCI with less than 90 seconds remaining in the second overtime period.
The championship got underway on Nov. 2 with the first round. No. 3-seed UC Irvine got past No. 6-seed Sacramento State 2-0 with goals from Ashish Chattha and Diego Otoya.
On the other side of the bracket No. 4-seed CSUN survived a late rally from No. 5-seed UC Davis with a 3-2 win. Ethan Hoard scored to give the Aggies the early lead. The Matadors responded with three goals from Edson Palos, Jack Rhead and Jamar Ricketts. UC Davis’ Zachary Batchelder knocked one in with less than 3:30 remaining to cut the margin to one, but did not have enough time left to even the score.
UC Riverside Wins Regular Season Title
UC Riverside won The Big West regular season title outright, and subsequently the top seed in The Big West Championship, with a 4-1 home win against UC Santa Barbara on the final day of the season on Oct. 29.
The Gauchos came into the match on top of the conference table with 16 points and the Highlanders trailing right behind with 14. UC Riverside needed a win for the crown and scored four goals from Noah Lopez, Issa Badawiyz, Oscar Penate and Luka Lukic. Goalkeeper Carlos Gonzalez made four crucial saves in the final 10 minutes to seal the victory. It is the first regular season trophy and No. 1 seed in Highlander program history.
Big West Awards
The Big West released its 2022 all-conference teams and major award winners prior to the start of The Big West Men’s Soccer Championship.
Junior forward Finn Ballard McBride is The Big West Offensive Player of the Year, while UC Santa Barbara teammate and fellow Australian Henry Davies is the repeat Big West Defensive Player of the Year. Carlos Gonzalez of UC Riverside and the Gauchos’ Leroy Zeller are The Big West Co-Goalkeepers of the Year, with Sebastian Cruz of Cal State Fullerton earning Big West Midfielder of the Year distinction and CSUN’s David Diaz The Big West Freshman of the Year. Tim Cupello has been voted by peers as The Big West Coach of the Year for the first time after directing UC Riverside to its first regular season title in dramatic fashion on the final night of the league schedule.
Ballard McBride tops the league with his 13 goals, 27 total points (one assist) and five game-winning strikes, managing to do so on just 29 shot attempts, 16 of them on target.
Out of Springwood, Australia, Davies is one of three Gauchos to start all matches in 2022. The senior center back has helped anchor seven shutouts, including six in a row to open league play from Sept. 28 to Oct. 19, as UCSB held opponents scoreless over a span of 657:33. Davies, who has also contributed a pair of goals offensively, is the first repeat Big West Defensive Player of the Year since UC Davis’ Roy Boateng in 2017-18.
Cruz appeared in all 19 matches for Cal State Fullerton, beginning each one. The fourth-year junior led the squad with eight goals, 22 total points and 51 shots, and was tied for second with six assists. All were career-high totals. In The Big West ranks, Cruz is first in shots and shots on goal (21-tied), second in goals and points, and tied for third in assists.
Gonzalez has started all games and played all 1,530 minutes this season for UC Riverside. The fourth-year junior has kept four clean sheets and posted 64 saves, a 1.41 goals-against average and a save percentage of .727. The Santa Ana native compiled a season-high nine stops in the victory over UCSB for the regular-season crown.
Zeller has been in the Gaucho net for every game in 2022. The fourth-year junior and second-year transfer is tied for first in The Big West with seven shutouts, second in save percentage, and third in saves and GAA.
Diaz has appeared in 16 of CSUN’s 17 matches, starting nine of them. The true freshman forward has contributed seven points from two goals and three assists to the Matador attack.
Cupello is in his 13th year at UC Riverside and ninth as the head coach after serving in an interim capacity during the 2013 season. The Highlanders posted a 5-2-2 league mark. They entered the final night two points back of UC Santa Barbara, with nothing less than a win necessary to overtake the Gauchos and make program history with a first regular-season trophy. Capello’s pupils, favored for fourth in the preseason, got the job done, breaking a 1-1 halftime deadlock with three unanswered tallies in the second period.
Ballard McBride, Cruz, Davies, Gonzalez and Zeller are accompanied on the 14-member All-Big West First Team by UCR’s Brendan Clark, Leopoldo Hernandez, Noah Lopez and Aleksander Vukovic, UCSB’s Sam Fletcher, Ashish Chattha of UC Irvine, AJ Johnson and Jamar Ricketts of CSUN, and Austin Wehner of Sacramento State.
UCR Alum Long to Play in World Cup
UC Riverside alum Aaron Long will play in the 2022 FIFA World Cup, set for Nov. 20-Dec. 18 in Qatar, as a member of the 26-player United States men’s national soccer team (USMNT).
Long played in a total of 71 matches in four years (2010-13) at UC Riverside, primarily as a midfielder, accumulating 13 goals and five assists. The Oak Hills, Calif. native was a two-time All-Big West honoree. Long was drafted in the second round, 36th overall, in the 2014 MLS SuperDraft by the Portland Timbers. After bouncing between MLS and USL for seven clubs, Long has been a mainstay on the back line for the New York Red Bulls since 2017. The former Highlander was the 2018 MLS Defender of the Year and has been named MLS All-Star twice (2018, 2022).
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