UC Riverside
UC Irvine
Men's Soccer Looks To Climb Big West Standings With Road Matches At Irvine, Fullerton
10/23/2013 11:42:00 AM | Men's Soccer
| Oct. 23 | 7:00 pm | at UC Irvine | Live Stats | Purchase Tickets | ||
| Oct. 26 | 7:00 pm | at Cal State Fullerton | Video | Audio | Live Stats | Purchase Tickets |
Irvine, CA—The UC Riverside Men's Soccer Team (6-5-3, 1-3-1) looks to make up some ground in the race for the postseason with road matches at UC Irvine on Thursday, October 23 at 7 pm PT, and Cal State Fullerton on Saturday, October 26 at 7 pm PT.
The Highlanders are coming off one of the best results of the season as they battled the sixth ranked team in the nation, Cal State Northridgem to a 0-0 tie (Box Score/Recap). Goalkeeper Ashkan Khosravi racked up a career-high eight saves against the top scoring team in the nation, earning Big West Defensive Player of the Week honors in the process (Full Story).
UC Irvine (7-4-3, 2-2-1) returns home after picking up a 2-2 tie at Cal State Fullerton on Saturday as the teams combined for forty-six shots between them.
The Anteaters own the all-time record against the Highlanders, 15-7-3, but UC Riverside has won the two previous meetings with UC Irvine, and three of the last four, including a 4-3 overtime win on October 31, 2012 (Box Score/Recap).
Cal State Fullerton (6-6-1, 3-1-1) is riding a four-match unbeaten streak after opening conference play with a 2-0 loss at UC Santa Barbara. During that span, the Titans recorded three straight shutouts—a streak that was broken on Saturday in the team's 2-2 tie vs. UC Irvine.Â
The Highlanders are 6-14-4 all-time against Cal State Fullerton including a pair of one goal losses last season. The last UC Riverside victory in the series came back on October 20, 2010 (Box Score/Recap).
| Highlanders vs. Anteaters & Titans Match Capsules | ||||||
| UC Riverside | UC Irvine | CSUF | ||||
| 2013 Record & Stats | 6-5-3, 1-3-1 | 7-4-3, 2-2-1 | 6-6-1, 3-1-1 | |||
| Schedule | Schedule | Schedule | ||||
| Roster | Roster | Roster | ||||
| Conference | Big West | Big West | Big West | |||
| Current Streak | T 1 | T 1 | T 1 | |||
| Most Recent Box Score | T, 0-0 (2OT) vs. CSUN | T, 2-2 (2OT) at CSUF | T, 2-2 (2OT) vs. UC Irvine | |||
| Next Opponent | November 2 at Cal State Northridge | October 26 at Cal State Northridge | November 2 at UC Irvine | |||
|
Top Scorer 2013 Stats x x x x |
 |
Romario Lomeli Freshman 3 goals, 1 assist 7 points |
 |
Enrique Cardenas Senior 6 goals, 5 assists 17 points |
 |
Garrett Losee Junior 3 goals, 1 assist 7 points |
|
Top Goalkeeper 2013 Stats x x x x |
 |
KC John Junior 9 matches 0.95 GAA, 33 saves |
 |
Michael Breslin Sophomore 14 matches 1.01 GAA, 36 saves |
 |
Bryan Escalante Senior 11 matches 1.36 GAA, 52 saves |
| All-Time Record vs. | 7-15-3 (All-Time Results) | 6-14-4 (All-Time Results) | ||||
| Current Streak vs. | W 2 | L 2 | ||||
GAME NOTES
UNBEATEN
It was deja vu all over again at the start of the 2013 season as for the second year in a row, the Highlanders were undefeated through their first seven matches. Last year, UC Riverside won its first seven matches, but a 2-0 loss to CSU Bakersfield ended the Highlanders perfect run. This season it was 11th-ranked UCLA who hung the first loss of the year on UC Riverside.
DEFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
The Highlanders have had three different players earn Defensive Player of the Week honors so far this season—defender Hayden Leslie on September 2 (full story), goalkeeper KC John on September 23 (full story) and Ashkan Khosravi on October 21 (full story).
WRONG WAY STREAK
The HIghlanders dropped four straight matches from late September to early October, which is the longest such streak for the team since the 2010 season when they lost five straight during the middle of the year.
HEADED TO THE POLLS
The Highlanders received their highest-ever national rankings last season, rising as high as 19th in the NSCAA poll. In the September 9, 2013 TopDrawerSoccer poll, UC Riverisde was receiving consideration for the first time this season, and for the week of September 16, the Highlanders received votes in the Soccer Times and NSCAA.Continental Tire polls.
| (2012) Week Of ... |
Soccer America |
Soccer Times |
NSCAA |
College Soccer News |
Top Drawer Soccer |
| Preseason | |||||
| Aug. 27 | RV | RV | |||
| Sept. 3 | RV | RV | RV | ||
| Sept. 10 | RV | 25 | 30 | ||
| Sept. 17 | 25 | 23 | 19 | 24 | |
| Sept. 24 | RV | 24 | 24 | ||
| Oct. 1 | RV | RV | 26 | ||
| Oct. 7 |
| (2013) Week Of ... |
Soccer America |
Soccer Times |
NSCAA |
College Soccer News |
Top Drawer Soccer |
| Sept. 2 | |||||
| Sept. 9 | RC | ||||
| Sept. 16 | RV | RV | RC | ||
| Sept. 23 | RV | RV | |||
| Sept. 30 |
FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH
The Highlanders allowed five goals to Cal Poly in a 5-1 loss on October 4, 2013 (box score/recap). The last time UC Riverside allowed that many goals in a match was on October 12, 2011 when #7 UC Irvine topped the Highlanders by an identical 5-1 score (box score/recap)
BACK-TO-BACK
The Highlanders recorded their first-ever winning season as a Division I program in 2011, and made it back-to-back winning campaigns in 2012 posting a 10-8-0 mark. Those 10 victories also established a Division I-era, single-season record for the program.
DOUBLE-DIPPING
In the Highlanders' September 8 victory over Bradley, Ivan Garcia became the first member of the Highlanders to score two goals in a match this season (box score/recap). The last UC Riverside player to do it was Richie Osborne who scored a pair at UC Irvine on October 31, 2012 (box score/recap).
SCORING DROUGHT
After opening the season on a seven-match unbeaten streak, the Highlanders concluded non-conference play with back-to-back shutout losses against No. 11 UCLA (Box Score/Recap) and University of the Incarnate Word (Box Score/Recap). The last time UC Riverside was shutout in consecutive matches was in October of last year when they dropped a pair of 1-0 road decisions to UC Davis and Sacramento State.
FIRING BLANKS
The Highlanders broke the program's Division I era record for consecutive shutout minutes a year ago by holding the opposition scoreless for 290 minutes and eight seconds spanning four matches and dating back to the end of the 2011 campaign. They nearly bested that mark this season with a streak of 280:40 straight scoreless minutes that began in the final match of the 2012 season.
UC Riverside recorded five shutouts in the team's first seven matches in 2012, but didn't record a shutout over the final 11 matches of the year. In 2013, the team has blanked the opposition on six occasions, which ties the 2007 squad for the most shutouts in a campaign.
LENDING A HELPING FOOT
The Highlanders 40 assists during the 2012 season smashed the program record for the most in the Division I history of the program, besting the 2010 and 2011 squads which recorded 25 assists each. This season, the Highlanders have 13 assists in 14 matches.
| Single-Season Team Assists | ||
| 40 | 2012 | |
| 25 | 2010 | |
| 25 | 2011 | |
OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION
UC Riverside's 37 goals in 2012 also obliterated the program's Division I era record originally set by the 2004 squad and later tied by the 2011 version. This season the Highlanders have 13 goals in 14 matches.
| Single-Season Team Goals | ||
| 37 | 2012 | |
| 28 | 2004 | |
| 28 | 2011 | |
EZ-PASS
Last season, Juan Mendoza, Eric Gonzalez and Otis Earle each found their way into UC Riverisde's single-season assist records list finishing tied for first (8), tied for third (7) and fifth (6) respectively.
NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS
With a 7-1-0 mark in non-conference matches in 2012, the Highlanders set the program record for non-conference wins in a season established the previous season when UC Riverside finished the non-conference portion of their season with a 5-2-1 mark. Over the past three seasons, UCR is 17-5-3 in non-conference matches.
A NEW SET OF GOALS
In 2011, senior Cesar Diaz-Pizarro scored 32.1 percent (9 of 28) of the team's goals, leaving the Highlanders in need of some replacement scoring for 2012. UCR used a balanced attack on the offensive side of the pitch last year as 14 different players were responsible for the Highlanders 37 goals. This season, eight different players have dented the back of the net for UC Riverside.
POSTSEASON PLAY
The Highlanders advanced to their first-ever Big West Tournament in 2011, setting what was then the Division I era record for wins in the process. They were shut out of the NCAA Tournament, however, despite an RPI of 39.
RPI
The Highlanders rose to as high as 30th in the nation in 2011 based on the NCAA's RPI rankings which is the highest the program has ever been ranked.
