Women's Soccer Hosts Lamar, New Mexico And UC Davis This Weekend

Friday, September 21

Riverside, CA

7:00 PM

UC Riverside

New Mexico

Photo by: Gabriel L. Acosta

Women's Soccer Hosts Lamar, New Mexico And UC Davis This Weekend

9/19/2012 7:04:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Sept. 21	4:00 pm	Lamar vs. UC Davis	Live Stats	Purchase Tickets
	7:00 pm	UC Riverside vs. New Mexico	Live Stats	Purchase Tickets

Sept. 23	10:00 am	New Mexico vs. UC Davis	Live Stats	Purchase Tickets
	1:00 pm	UC Riverside vs. Lamar	Live Stats	Purchase Tickets

Riverside—The UC Riverside Women's Soccer Team (4-3-2) hosts its second tournament of the 2012 season this weekend as they welcome Lamar, New Mexico and UC Davis to the UC Riverside Soccer Stadium. The Highlanders take on the Lobos on Friday, September 21 at 7 pm PT and the Cardinals on Sunday, September 23 at 1 pm.

UCR had its four match unbeaten streak snapped over the weekend as the Highlanders dropped a 1-0 decision to San Francisco on Sunday (box score/recap).

Lamar dropped four of its first five matches to start the season, but they haven't lost since winning three matches and tying one. Most recently, the Cardinals notched back-to-back shutouts over Texas Southern (4-0) and Alcorn State (8-0).

The Highlanders and Lamar met for the first time a year ago with UCR picking up a 1-0 overtime win (box score/recap). Andrea Morales scored the game-winner with 2:25 gone in the first extra period.

New Mexico has won four of its last five matches after going winless in its four contests of the year. That current streak includes road or neutral site victories over SMU, Texas and Georgia.

The Lobos picked up a 2-1 win over the Highlanders on September 18, 2011 (box score/recap). Lindsey Ahmed's goal in the 54th minute tied the score, but New Mexico's Roxie McFarland netted the game-winner with 44 seconds remaining in regulation.

UC Riverside Women's Soccer Tournament Match Capsule
	UC Riverside	Lamar	New Mexico	UC Davis
2012 Stats	4-3-2	4-4-1	4-4-1	4-3-1
	Schedule	Schedule	Schedule	Schedule
	Roster	Roster	Roster	Roster
Conf.	Big West	Southland	Mountain West	Big West
Current Streak	L 1	W 2	W 1	L 2
Last Box Score	L, 1-0 vs. San Francisco	W, 8-0 vs. Alcorn State	W, 1-0 (2 OT) vs. New Mexico State	L, 1-0 vs. CSU Bakersfield
Next Opp.	Sept. 28 vs. Long Beach State	Sept. 28 at McNeese State	Sept. 28 vs. Boise State	Sept. 28 at UC Santa Barbara
Top Scorer	Celina Valencia Sophomore 3 gls, 1 ast 7 pts	Kristin Bos Sophomore 6 gls, 2 asts 14 pts	Rachel Montoya Senior 4 gls, 2 asts 10 pts	Ashley Edwards Junior 4 gls, 0 asts 8 pts
Top Keeper	Jessica White Senior 9 matches 1.35 gaa 47 svs	Bailey Fontenot Freshman 8 matches 1.40 gaa 27 svs	Kelli Cornell Senior 9 matches 1.18 gaa 22 svs	Taylor Jern Sophomore 8 matches 0.84 gaa 34 svs
Record vs.		1-0-0 (Results)	0-1-0 (Results)
Current Streak vs.		W 1	L 1

GAME NOTES
WELCOME BACK
UC Riverside's new head women's soccer coach has a familiar look about him: Nat Gonzalez, who took over the team this winter, was the Highlanders head men's soccer coach from 2001-03, restarting a program that lay dormant for a number of years prior to UC Riverside making the transition to Division I.

DON'T LOOK ETHEL!
The Highlanders had a four-match unbeaten streak snapped on Sunday, September 16 in a 1-0 loss to San Francisco. The last time UC Riverside posted a longer unbeaten streak was in 2009 when they stayed out of the loss column for seven straight matches from August 30 through September 20.

.500 AND ABOVE
The last time UC Riverside had a better record through nine matches than they do in 2012 was in 2009 when they boasted a 5-2-2 mark. They finished the 2009 campaign with a 6-9-4 record. The last time the Highlanders finished a season above .500 was in 2006 when they went 10-7-1.

ROOKIE RECKONING
In the Highlanders' 2-1, season-opening win over CSU Bakersfield (box score/recap) Crystal Lopez became the first UC Riverside rookie since Ciara Hilpert in 2008, to score a goal in the first match of her career. Hilpert did it in the Highlanders 5-0 win over Southern Utah on August 22 of that year (box score/recap).

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
UC Riverside's leading scorer, Celina Valencia, was named Big West Conference Offensive Player of the Week on September 3, for games played from August 27 through September 2.

The Alhambra, CA native scored half of the Highlanders four goals over the weekend at the UC Riverside Women’s Soccer Tournament netting the team’s lone score against New Mexico State in a 1-1 tie on Friday (watch highlights), and one of three goals in the Highlanders come-from-behind 3-2 victory over UTEP on Sunday (watch highlights). Valencia also assisted on Andrea Morales’s game-tying goal with 12:35 remaining in regulation.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES
Two years ago, the Highlanders suffered through a one-win season that produced just three goals all year long. In 2011, however, UC Riverside picked up eight wins on the season, remaining in the hunt for a Big West Conference postseason berth until the final match of the season, while scoring 21 goals. This year, the Highlanders are 4-3-2 on the season with 13 scores in nine matches.

SPREADING THE WEALTH
Ten members of the Highlanders dented the back of the net last year which is the most goal scorers the team has posted in a season since 2007 when 12 players etched their names into the scoring column. So far in 2012, seven players are responsible for UC Riverside's 13 goals.

DOUBLE-DIGIT DENTER
The UC Riverside Women's Soccer Team hasn't had a double-digit goal scorer since Tessa Lennala dented the back of the net on 11 occasions back in 2008. Celina Valencia has three goals so far on the season in nine matches for the Highlanders.