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What 2 Watch 4
The final week of the regular season features five matches on Saturday, all starting at 7 p.m. PT.
Four teams have secured a berth in the upcoming 2023 Big West Men’s Soccer Championship in Cal State Fullerton, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine and UC Davis.
The Titans (11-4-3, 5-2-1 BW) will host the Gauchos (9-6-2, 4-2-2 BW) in a matchup that will determine the regular season champion and top seed in the championship. A tie will give Cal State Fullerton the regular season crown.
UC Riverside (3-9-4, 3-3-2 BW) will welcome CSUN (4-6-7, 2-3-3 BW) to determine one playoff berth, while Cal Poly (5-7-3, 3-3-2 BW) will battle Cal State Bakersfield (7-5-4, 3-4-1 BW) for the other. Ties will give the final spots in the championship to UC Riverside and Cal Poly, respectively.
The Aggies (7-6-3, 4-3-1 BW) will welcome local foe Sacramento State (3-10-4, 0-4-4 BW) in a Causeway Rivalry matchup. The Anteaters (7-6-3, 4-3-1 BW) get UC San Diego (4-10-3, 3-4-1 BW) at home.
All five contests are set to air on ESPN+, The Big West’s exclusive broadcast rights holder. Check the listings here to watch your favorite Big West teams in action.
Poll Position
Three Big West teams are featured in the latest Far West Region Rankings. Cal State Fullerton is rated eighth, UC Santa Barbara is ninth and UC Irvine takes the 10th spot.
Titans Score Galore
Cal State Fullerton currently sits atop The Big West with a 5-2-1 record.
Statistically, the Titans nationally rank third in total assists (41), sixth in total points (109), ninth in total goals (34) and 17th in assists per game (2.28).
Junior midfielder Roberto Ordonez leads Cal State Fullerton, The Big West and the NCAA with 10 assists. Combined with a league-topping nine goals, the midfielder is fourth nationally with 28 points. Ordonez was recently named the No. 1 player in the nation in TopDrawerSoccer’s Midseason Player Rankings. The junior has won three Big West Offensive Player of the Week awards and a TopDrawerSoccer National Player of the Week honor this season as well.
Junior forward Sulaiman Bah has put away seven goals this season with three of them being game-winners, tied for 24th nationally. Junior midfielder Erick Serrano has recorded seven assists so far which ranks 21st in the NCAA.
Gaucho Goals
UC Santa Barbara knows how to find the net and has the second-highest scoring total in the league with 28 goals. The Gauchos are led by junior midfielder Lucas Gonzalez (five goals, five assists) and senior midfielder Nemo Philipp (four goals, four assists). Eight different Gauchos have at least two goals this season.
Eater Embankment
UC Irvine has shown its defensive prowess with an opponent goals against average of 0.94 in overall games and 0.63 in conference play. The Anteater defense is led by junior goalkeeper Luke Pruter who ranks fourth in the NCAA in shutouts with seven and third nationally in goalie-minutes played at 1440:00.
Aggressive Aggies
UC Davis is finishing the season strong, winning two games last week to secure a spot in the championship. The Aggies are led by sophomore forward Cason Goodman’s six goals and three assists. Senior midfielder Ryan Dieter has contributed a team-high six assists. Junior goalkeeper Charles Janssen sports a 1.09 goals-against average on the season.
Mustangs Alive
Cal Poly kept its postseason dreams alive in a dominant statement with a 5-0 home win over conference leader Cal State Fullerton last week. The Mustangs have shown flashes in head coach Oige Kennedy’s first year including a three-goal outburst in the opener against Oral Roberts, a 4-0 win at Gonzaga and a 3-0 win versus CSUN. Cal Poly is led by junior forward Jackson Kestler (four goals, five assists), sophomore forward Luke Schaefer (four goals, two assists) and freshman midfielder Rylan Firouznam (three goals, three assists).
Rate High on the Highlanders
UC Riverside has found its groove in conference play with 12 goals scored in eight games, which ranks third in the league. Junior forward Noah Lopez and sophomore midfielder Diogo Baptista are the offensive leaders for the Highlanders with three goals apiece.
Runners on the Rise
Cal State Bakersfield’s defense has been stellar all season and has given up more than one goal in a game on only three occasions. Led by junior goalkeeper Brandon Limes, Cal State Bakersfield lead the league and are 19th nationally in save percentage (0.800), and 23rd in goals-against average (0.812). Limes has six shutouts this year, tied for 15th in the NCAA.
Offensively, the Roadrunners are led by junior midfielder Connor Mautino (five goals), junior defender Bryson Hankins (three goals, three assists) and junior forward Bilal Mihoubi (three goals, one assist). Mautino, Mihoubi and freshman midfielder Adrian Jogerst have two game-winning goals each on the season.
Magical Matadors
CSUN has had a knack for dramatic finishes with late-game heroics this season. The most recent instance came in a 1-0 win at UC Irvine when Jamar Ricketts dribbled more than half the length of the field, beat four defenders and scored the game-winning goal in the 89th minute.
In the Matador season opener at Ohio State, with an 11-on-10 disadvantage due to a red card, freshman Jorge Solorzano scored the game-tying goal on a free kick with 20 seconds remaining to come away with a draw. At then-No. 12 San Diego, playing once again with a player disadvantage, Levin Gerhardt and Ricketts each found the back of the net in the 81st and 86th minutes, respectively, to come away with a 3-1 win. In a 1-1 draw at UCLA, Solorzano got the game-tying score on a penalty kick in the 88th minute.
Big West Goalies
Big West goalies are excelling with a number of names appearing in the national statistics top 25. Cal State Fullerton’s Tetsuya Kadono ranks second in the nation in goalie minutes played with 1461:44 defending the cage. UC Riverside’s Carlos Gonzalez, Cal State Bakersfield’s Brandon Limes, UC Irvine’s Luke Pruter and UC Santa Barbara’s Leroy Zeller are all tied for third at 1440 minutes apiece. UC Davis’ Charles Janssen is 10th at 1405:02 and Sacramento State’s Mac Learned is 11th at 1396:37.
Learned has the most saves in the nation with 88 and ranks fourth in saves per game at 5.50. Gonzalez is 13th with 62 saves. In shutouts, Pruter is tied for fourth with seven and Limes is tied for 15th with six.
The Greatest Rivalry in College Soccer
The men’s soccer matchup between Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara has been called the single greatest rivalry in college soccer. The crowds of these games are record-setting and hold 18 of the top 25 largest NCAA men’s soccer crowds, excluding the postseason. The two teams meet twice every year, one as a non-conference matchup and one in league play.
In the first iteration of the rivalry this season UC Santa Barbara defeated Cal Poly 2-0 in front of 7,032 fans in Harder Stadium on Sept. 23 that counted as a non-conference game. The second edition of the matchup was played on Oct. 15 with UC Santa Barbara coming out on top 1-0 with 8,128 fans in attendance at Mustang Memorial Field that was part of Big West play.
Preseason Prognostications
UC Santa Barbara is favored to win The Big West according to the 2023 Big West Men’s Soccer Coaches’ Preseason Poll.
The Gauchos (10-4-6, 4-1-4 BW) earned three first-place votes for a total of 72 points. Last year, UC Santa Barbara tied for second in the regular season standings and was the runner-up at The Big West Championship.
The coaches also voted on an 11-person Preseason All-Big West squad. Three Gauchos were featured on the preseason team in junior midfielder Lucas Gonzalez, junior forward Alexis Ledoux and senior goalkeeper Leroy Zeller. Last season, Gonzalez tallied two goals and six assists en route to an All-Big West Second Team selection, while Ledoux compiled one goal and three assists. Zeller, a First Team honoree last season and the reigning Co-Goalkeeper of the Year, played in 20 games and sported a 0.99 goals-against average.
Defending Big West double champion UC Riverside (8-8-4, 5-2-2 BW) was picked to finish second after earning four first-place votes, the most of any team, for 69 points and senior defender Brendan Clark earned a spot on the preseason team. Clark totaled seven goals and seven assists from the back line and was an All-Big West First Team selection last year.
CSUN (9-6-4, 5-3-1 BW) received two first-place votes totaling 63 points to come in third. Matador junior forward Jamar Ricketts was placed on the preseason team after earning All-Big West first team honors with five goals and three assists in 2022.
One point shy of the Matadors was UC Irvine (6-12-2, 5-3-1 BW) with 62 points and one first-place vote. The Anteaters were represented on the preseason team by senior defender Eddy Berumen and junior midfielder Francesco Montanile. Berumen compiled three assists and Montanile recorded two goals and four assists last season.
Sacramento State (9-8-2, 4-5 BW) and UC Davis (5-9-4, 4-3-2) tied for fifth in the preseason poll with 42 points apiece and each had one representative on the preseason squad. Hornet senior forward Austin Wehner was a 2022 All-Big West First Team honoree with four goals and three assists. Aggie senior forward Ethan Hoard was an honorable mention selection with three goals and two assists last year.
Cal State Fullerton (38), UC San Diego (33), Cal Poly (20) and Cal State Bakersfield (9) finish the rest of the poll.
Cal State Fullerton junior defender Giovanni Calderon and UC San Diego senior midfielder Alessandro Allen round out the preseason team. In 2022, Calderon recorded one goal and one assist for an All-Big West Honorable Mention distinction, and Allen had four assists to earn a spot on the Second Team.
2022 Rewind
The 2022 season saw UC Riverside (8-8-4, 5-2-2 BW) win both The Big West regular season and Championship titles.
In the final week of the regular season, the Highlanders trounced UC Santa Barbara at home by a score of 4-1 for the title and secured a No. 1 seed in The Big West Championship.
UC Riverside bounced No. 4 seed CSUN 4-1 in the semifinals and got the best of No. 2 seed Gauchos 1-0 in the finals in front of a packed house to earn its second Big West Championship title in program history. Highlander goalkeeper Carlos Gonazlez was named the Tournament MVP.
The Big West in the World Cup
UC Riverside alum Aaron Long played in the 2022 FIFA World Cup 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 was a mainstay on the back line for the New York Red Bulls from 2017-2022. The former Highlander was the 2018 MLS Defender of the Year and has been named MLS All-Star twice (2018, 2022). Long returned home to SoCal in 2023 and currently plays for Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC).
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