UC Riverside
Montana
Women's Soccer Hosts Montana Before Concluding Regular Season At Long Beach St.
10/30/2013 8:51:00 AM | Women's Soccer
| November 1 | 7:00 pm | vs. Montana | Live Stats | (951) 827-4653 For Tickets |
| November 3 | 2:00 pm | at Long Beach State | Live Stats | For Tickets |
Riverside—The final weekend of the regular season is upon us, and the UC Riverside Women's Soccer Team has two matches on the docket—a Friday, November 1 home match at 7 pm PT against Montana where the Highlanders will bid farewell to their senior class; and a Sunday November 3 road match at Long Beach State. The 2 pm start against the 49ers has major postseason implications, as UC Riverside needs to win that match, and get some help from the rest of the conference, in order to advance to its first Big West Conference Tournament since 2005.
Cal Poly (6-1-0) and UC Irvine (5-2-0) have already clinched postseason berths, but a five-team scrum still remains for the final third and fourth seeds.
| Team | W | L | T | Pts |
| Cal Poly * | 6 | 1 | 0 | 18 |
| UC Irvine * | 5 | 2 | 0 | 15 |
| Cal State Fullerton | 3 | 2 | 1 | 10 |
| UC Riverside | 3 | 4 | 0 | 9 |
| UC Santa Barbara | 3 | 4 | 0 | 9 |
| Long Beach State | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| UC Davis | 2 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
| Hawai'i # | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7 |
| Cal State Northridge # | 1 | 5 | 1 | 4 |
| * Clinched postseason berth # Eliminated from postseason | ||||
At the moment, the Highlanders can still finish as high as third. Thursday's matches will clear things up a bit as Cal Poly travels to UC Davis and Long Beach State hosts Cal State Fullerton. Here is your cheering checklist to mark off as the week progresses to ensure a #3 finish.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31
Cal Poly beats UC Davis
Long Beach State beats Cal State Fullerton
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 3
UC Riverside beats Long Beach State
UC Irvine beats Cal State Fullerton(a tie would work as well)
UC Davis beats UC Santa Barbara (a tie would work as well)
If all of the non-parantheticals above happen, here is what the final standings will look like.
| Team | W | L | T | Pts |
| Cal Poly | 7 | 1 | 0 | 21 |
| UC Irvine | 6 | 2 | 0 | 18 |
| UC Riverside | 4 | 4 | 0 | 12 |
| Long Beach State | 3 | 3 | 2 | 11 |
| Cal State Fullerton | 3 | 4 | 1 | 10 |
| UC Davis | 3 | 4 | 1 | 10 |
| UC Santa Barbara | 3 | 5 | 0 | 9 |
There are a number of scenarios that see the Highlanders finishing in fourth place, but the bottom line is UC Riverside needs to beat the 49ers and get some help from the rest of the conference. Follow the Highlanders on Facebook and twitter on Sunday afternoon to get all the latest updates on UC Riverside's postseason positioning.
Before the Long Beach State match, however, the Highlanders will battle Montana in the final home tilt of the season. The program will honor the four members of the UCR Class of 2014—Lindsey Ahmed, Kaitlin Anzalone, Andrea Morales and Jessica Olafsen. This is the frst-ever meeting between the Highlanders and Grizzlies.
| Highlanders vs. Grizzlies and 49ers Match Capsules | |||||||||
| UC Riverside | Montana | Long Beach State | |||||||
| 2013 Stats & Record | 6-11-1, 3-4-0 | 6-8-4, 3-5-1 | 8-6-2, 2-2-2 | ||||||
| Schedule | Schedule | Schedule | |||||||
| Roster | Roster | Roster | |||||||
| Conference | Big West | Big Sky | Big West | ||||||
| Current Streak | L 3 | W 1 | L 1 | ||||||
| Last Box Score | L, 2-1 vs. UC Davis | W, 3-1 vs. Southern Utah | L, 1-0 at Cal State Northridge | ||||||
| Next Opponent | End of regular season | End of regular season | October 31 vs Cal State Fullerton | ||||||
|
Top Scorer x x x x |
 |
Sammy Arellano Freshman 3 goals, 2 assists 8 points |
 |
Mackenzie Akins Sophomore 3 goals, 5 assist 11 points |
 |
Mimi Rangel
Freshman 5 goals, 4 assist 14 points |
|||
|
Top Goalkeeper x x x x |
 |
Elizabeth Silas
Sophomore 17 matches 1.35 gaa, 72saves |
 |
Kendra McMillen Senior 14 matches 1.25 gaa, 63 saves |
 |
Kaci McCain Sophomore 14 matches 0.83 gaa, 49 saves |
|||
| Record vs. | First Meeting | 2-7-4 (View Results) | |||||||
| Current Streak vs. | L 3 | ||||||||
GAME NOTES
UNDEFEATED
The Highlanders started the 2013 Big West season with wins in each of their first two matches. This marked the first time since the 2005 campaign that UC Riverside began a season 2-0, and is also the first sime since that same year that the Highlanders were alone atop the conference standings. UCR finished the 2005 season with an undefeted 4-0-3 mark.
RARIFIED AIR
With three conference wins to date, the 2013 Highlanders are already tied for fourth place in program history for most wins in a season. The 2003 squad went 5-3-1 en route to a third place Big West finish, while the 2002 and 2005 teams each won four matches.
| Season | W | L | T | Pts | Place |
| 2003 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 16 | Third |
| 2005 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 15 | Second |
| 2002 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 13 | Sixth |
| 2013 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 9 | Tied for Fourth |
| 2004 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 13 | Tied for Fifth |
| 2011 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 10 | Tied for Fifth |
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
UC Riverside goalkeeper Elizabeth Silas was named the conference defensive player of the week on October 7 following the Highlanders 2-0 weekend to begin Big West play. Silas becomes the first member of the Highlanders to win one of the conference's weekly awards this season, and the fourth UC Riverside goalkeeper overall to earn the distinction joining Jessica White, Jessica Olafsen and Tawny Poggio (Read the full release).
PLAYING THE PERCENTAGES
UC Riverside's Head Coach Nat Gonzalez was also the head coach of the UC Riverside Men's Soccer Team for three seasons when it re-launched in 2001. During his four seasons as a head coach with the Highlanders, he has increased his winning percentage each year.
| Team | W | L | T | Pct |
| 2001 Men's Team | 1 | 14 | 3 | .139 |
| 2002 Men's Team | 4 | 12 | 4 | .300 |
| 2003 Men's Team | 7 | 10 | 1 | .417 |
| 2012 Women's Team | 7 | 10 | 3 | .425 |
ROOKIE RECKONING
In the Highlanders' 2-1, season-opening win a year ago 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).
Lopez tied for the team lead in scoring a year ago with four goals and an assist for nine points becoming the fourth freshman to lead the team in scoring in the program's history: Melisa Escamilla (2010, 2 goals, 0 assists, 4 points); Renee Scachetti (2003, 7 goals, 4 assists, 18 points); and Jessica Armel (2002, 4 goals, 1 assist, 9 points).
This season, freshman Sammy Arellano leads UC Riverside in scoring with three goals and two assists through 18 matches.
DOUBLE DIPPING
In UC Riverside's 2-1 overtime win over San Jose State on August 25, Tatum Lockett became the first Highlanders player to score two goals in a match since Tessa Lennala scored a pair at Cal State Fullerton on October 26, 2008 (Box Score/Recap).
Alexa Bustamante supplanted Lockett as the most recent member of the Highlanders to dent the back of the net twice in the same match, as her two headers accounted for all of UC Riverside's scoring in a 2-0 win over CSU Bakersfield on September 15 (box score/recap).
Lockett also became the 10th UC Riverside freshmen to score two goals in the same match, and the first since Kacie McElrath and Brittany Coulter both notched a pair vs. Nevada on August 29, 2004.
LENDING A HELPING FOOT
Amber Marani became the first member of the Highlanders since Pat Brady in 2007 to record two assists in the same match. Brady assisted on a pair of goals on September 21 in a 5-1 victory over Fresno State (box score/recap). Marani was credited with her assists on September 15 in a 2-0 win over CSU Bakersfield (box score/recap).
SCORE!
The UC Riverside offense scored 24 goals a year ago, which is the most goals the team has scored since the 2008 season when they scored 32 on the year.
SPREADING THE WEALTH
Ten members of the Highlanders dented the back of the net in 2011 and 2012, which were the most goal scorers the team has boasted in a season since 2007 when 12 players etched their names into the scoring column. This season, 11 different players have goals to their credit.
SCORING DROUGHT
The Highlanders were shut out 1-0 in four of five matches to close out their non-conference schedule this season. The last time they endured a similar scoreless streak was in 2010. That season, UC Riverside scored just three goals all year long.
