|
What 2 Watch 4
It’s time to kickoff the 2023 season as eight of the 10 Big West sides take to the pitch on Thursday, Aug. 24 for their openers, with four teams at home. UNLV visits UC Irvine, UC San Diego hosts Pacific, Cal State Bakersfield welcomes San Jose State and UC Riverside is home against Gonzaga.
Cal State Fullerton heads to Indiana for a neutral-site showdown against Mercer, at Evansville, Thursday and Sunday versus host Evansville. UC Davis and CSUN will go to Ohio to take on Dayton and Ohio State, respectively, on Thursday and flip matchups on Sunday. All four games will be played at Ohio State.
UC Santa Barbara hosts Oral Roberts and Sacramento State travels to No. 13 Portland on Friday, August 25 for each squad’s season openers.
One match will be featured on Saturday as UC San Diego welcomes San Jose State. On Sunday, UC Irvine hosts No. 8 Creighton, and UC Riverside and Sacramento State will travel to the Pacific Northwest to take on Oregon State and Gonzaga, respectively.
Cal Poly will get a late start to its season, opening its campaign on Monday, August 28 against Oral Roberts. Also on Monday will be Cal State Bakersfield at San Diego State and Pacific at UC Santa Barbara.
A total of 11 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.
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.
National Attention
Three Big West players are featured in the TopDrawerSoccer’s National Top 100 Players rankings. UC Riverside defender Brendan Clark tops The Big West at No. 70, followed by UC Santa Barbara goalie Leroy Zeller at No. 75. CSUN forward Jamar Ricketts is ranked No. 90.
In addition to those three, UC Irvine defender Eddy Berumen and Sacramento State forward Austin Wehner made the Top Players to Watch list in TopDrawerSoccer’s Big West preview.
Additionally, Brady Treinen (UC Irvine), Cyrus Neghabat (Cal Poly), Simon Vaca-Lorenzi (Sacramento State), Kaden Standish (UC Santa Barbara) and Jackson D’Alessandro (UC Riverside) were named as Top Freshman to Watch by TopDrawerSoccer.
Arfsten Drafted
In December 2022, former UC Davis forward Maximilian Arfsten was selected in the first round, 14th overall, by the Columbus Crew in the 2023 Major League Soccer SuperDraft.
Arfsten tallied nine goals and eight assists in two seasons (39 games) as an Aggie. The forward had a breakout season in 2021, compiling eight goals, including a hat trick against San Francisco, and seven assists and was subsequently named to the All-Big West First Team and earned Offensive Player of the Year honors. The Fresno, Calif. product was a 2019 Big West All-Freshman Team performer with one goal and one assist.
Arfsten played the 2022 season for the San Jose Earthquakes II, logging minutes in 24 games with 21 starts. The former Aggie was second on the team with nine goals and led the team with six assists, and had two multi-score games including two goals and an assist in a 4-1 win over Minnesota in the last match of the MLS Next fall season.
Arfsten becomes the 52nd standout from The Big West to be taken in the MLS SuperDraft, and 14th first-round selection. The UC Davis program has now produced four draft picks in the last five years, three of them being in the first round.
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).
|
|