UC Riverside
UC Davis
Women's Soccer Opens Big West Play On The Road At UC Davis And Hawai'i
9/30/2014 10:41:00 AM | Women's Soccer
| Highlanders Week Seven | |
| at UC Davis | at Hawai'i |
| October 2, at 4:00 pm | October 5, at 8:00 pm |
| Live Stats Link | Live Stats Link |
| Click To Purchase Tickets x | No Cost To Attend (except for the whole flying to Hawai'i thing) |
Davis, CA—The UC Riverside Women's Soccer team enters Big West play this weekend with its best record in non-conference competition since the 2009 campaign. The Highlanders travel to UC Davis on Thursday, October 2 for a 4 pm PT kick off, and then pack their leis and hula skirts for Hawai'i for a Sunday, October 5 match at 8 pm.
UCR nearly pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the season, Sunday, when they took on #6 Texas Tech on the road. But the Red Raiders late score in regulation helped them escape with a 3-2 victory (box score/recap). On Friday of last week, the Highlanders recorded their fourth shutout of the season with a 2-0 blanking of Duquesne (box score/recap).
UC Davis enters the weekend with a 3-7-1 record and a seven-match winless streak. The Aggies snapped a six-match losing skid on Saturday with a 0-0 tie against Pacific. In the six matches prior, they were shutout five times, and lost a 3-1 decision at Santa Clara. Four of those five shutouts came by scores of 1-0.
UCD has been outscored 11 to four on the season, with Haley Hughes serving as the lone Aggies player with more than one score on the season. Taylor Jern is the team's starting keeper, and she has a 0.97 goals against average which is fourth best in the conference.
The Highlanders are 5-3-2 all-time against UC Davis (view results), but have dropped three straight to the Aggies including a 2-1 loss on October 24 of last year (box score/recap).
Hawai'i is 5-5-0 in 2014, and has won its last two matches—3-1 over Eastern Washington and 2-1 against Montana. With 22 goals on the season, the Rainbow Wahine are tied with the Highlanders and UC Santa Barbara for the most goals in the conference. They have also allowed the most goals in the Big West with 29 on the season.
Sonest Furtado (4 goals, 3 assists) and Storm Kenul (4g, 2a) lead the Hawai'i offense, while Erica Young (6 matches, 2.83 gaa, 23 saves) is the Rainbow Wahine's primary keeper.
UC Riverside is 2-1-1 against Hawai'i (view results) including a 2-0 victory at home last season (box score/recap/video recap).
| Highlanders at Aggies and Rainbow Wahine | |||||||||||
| UC Riverside | UC Davis | Hawai'i | |||||||||
| 2014 Stats & Record | 5-3-2. 0-0-0 | 3-7-1, 0-0-0 | 5-5-0, 0-0-0 | ||||||||
| Schedule | Schedule | Schedule | |||||||||
| Roster | Roster | Roster | |||||||||
| Current Streak | L 1 | T 1 | W 2 | ||||||||
| Last Box Score | L, 3-2 at #6 Texas Tech | T, 0-0 (2 OT) vs. Pacific | W, 2-1 at Montana | ||||||||
| Next Opponent | vs. UC Irvine October 9 at 5 pm PT | at Cal Poly October 10 | vs. UC Santa Barbara October 10 | ||||||||
| Top Scorer x x x x |  | Tyler Cunningham Junior 3 goals, 4 assists 10 points |  | Haley Hughes Junior 2 goals, 0 assists 4 points |  | Sonest Furtado Freshman 4 goals, 3 assists 11 points | |||||
| Top Goalkeeper x x x x |  | Elizabeth Silas Junior 10 matches 1.38 gaa, 39 saves |  | Taylor Jern Senior 11 matches 0.97 gaa, 33 saves |  | Erica Young Sophomore 6 matches 2.83 gaa, 23 saves | |||||
| Record vs. | 5-3-2 (results) | 2-1-1 (results) | |||||||||
| Current Streak vs. | L 3 | W 1 | |||||||||
GAME NOTES
THOSE WHO DO NOT STUDY HISTORY ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT IT
One year ago, Big West coaches picked the Highlanders to finish last in the conference. UC Riverside finished third and advanced to the Big West Championship Game before falling to Cal State Fullerton via penalty kicks. This year, Big West coaches again picked the Highlanders to finish last. UC Riverside currently has the second best record in the league at 5-3-2.
CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
The Highlanders advanced to the Championship Match of the Big West Conference Tournament in 2013 tying Cal State Fullerton, 1-1, before falling in penalty kicks (box score/recap). This marked the second time in UC Riverside's 13-year history that the team made it to the league title game. In 2005, they dropped a 4-1 decision to those same Titans (box score/recap).
COACH OF THE YEAR
UC Riverside Head Coach Nat Gonzalez was named the Big West Coach of the Year at the conclusion of the 2013 regular season after leading the Highlanders to a third place conference finish. Prior to the season, Big West coaches picked UC Riverside to finish last.
RARIFIED AIR
The 2013 Highlanders four wins in conference were the second most in the history of the program. The 2003 squad went 5-3-1 en route to a third place Big West finish, while the 2002 and 2005 teams also 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 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 12 | Third |
PRESEASON ACCOLADES
Big West coaches named UC Riverside junior forward Tyler Cunningham to the preseason All-Conference Team (story) while College Sports Madness.com selected Tyler to its Preseason All-Big West Second Team, and sophomore midfielder Sammy Arellano and junior defender Briana Thomasson to the First Team (story).
FEELING A LITTLE RANK
For the first time in the history of the program, the UC Riverside Women's Soccer Team is ranked in the NSCAA West Region. The Highlanders were ranked seventh each of the first two weeks of the season before moving up to fifth following the third week of play. They dropped back to seventh last week and remain there this week.
HIGHLANDERS HARDWARE
Tyler Cunningham was named the Tournament Most Outstanding Player at the UNLV Rebel Classic after leading the Highlanders to a 2-0 record and the Tournament Championship (story). She scored a goal and dished out two assists on the weekend. In addition to being named Most Outstanding Player, the Fairfield, CA native was named Most Outstanding Offensive Player and to the All-Tournament Team. Alina Cheatham and Amber Marani also earned All-Tournament honors.
The Big West named Cunningham the conference Offensive Player of the Week (story), and CollegeSportsMadness.com named her the Madness Big West Women's Soccer Player of the Week (story).
Blanca Barrio joined Cunningham as a 2014 recipient of Big West Offensive Player of the Week accolades when the conference honored her for her play from September 8-14 (story). She scored two goals and handed out a pair of assists in the Highlanders 3-0 and 4-0 blankings of Northern Iowa and Bakersfield respectively.
Elizabeth Silas picked up her second career Big West Defensive Player of the Week nod on September 29 following a week that saw her record her third complete-game shutout of the season vs. Duquesne, collecting six saves including the stop of a penalty kick early in the first half (box score/recap/video recap). She then helped the Highlanders nearly engineer an upset of sixth-ranked Texas Tech, recording four saves, but UCR came up just short in a 3-2 defeat (box score/recap). College Sports Madness later named her the Big West Player of the Week as well (story).
LENDING A HELPING FOOT
Blanca Barrio has five assists on the season through the first 10 matches of the year. The school record for a season is six, set by Vanessa Chanez and Amber Plumlee in 2004.
RARIFIED AIR II
The Highlanders are 5-3-2 through 10 matches which is the team's best record prior to beginning Big West play since 2009.
YOU OLD BLANKETY-BLANK
The Highlanders have four shutouts in 2014 which is the most for the program since the 2009 squad recorded eight clean sheets.
OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION
With 22 goals through 10 matches, UC Riverside has matched its entire scoring output from the 2013 season. The Highlanders could challenge the program record of 45 goals in a season set during the 2004 campaign.
With 22 assists through 10 matches, the 2014 squad already ranks fourth in history of the program for most assists in a season. They are on pace to shatter the previous record of 39 set in 2004.
| Single-Season Team Goals | Single-Season Team Assists | |||||||
| Season | Matches | Goals | Projected | xxxxxxxxxxxxx | Season | Matches | Assists | Projected |
| 2004 | 19 | 45 | 2004 | 19 | 39 | |||
| 2002 | 19 | 36 | 2005 | 21 | 24 | |||
| 2008 | 20 | 32 | 2002 | 19 | 24 | |||
| 2003 | 21 | 31 | 2006 | 18 | 22 | |||
| 2005 | 21 | 28 | 2014 | 10 | 22 | 40 | ||
| 2006 | 18 | 26 | ||||||
| 2012 | 20 | 24 | ||||||
| 2007 | 18 | 24 | ||||||
| 2013 | 22 | 22 | ||||||
| 2014 | 10 | 22 | 40 | |||||
FOUR SCORES AND SIX YEARS AGO
The Highlanders scored four goals in a match on August 24, 2014 beating Northern Arizona by a score of 4-2 (box score/recap). On September 12, 2014, they dropped a quad on Bakersfield in a 4-0 victory (box score/recap/video recap). The last time UCR scored more than four goals in a match was in a 5-0 season-opening win over Southern Utah on August 22, 2008 (box score/recap).
SPREADING THE WEALTH
Thirteen different Highlanders have dented the back of the net so far in 2014, which is the most since 15 players scored during the 2003 campaign.
TWO FOR TWO
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 conference season 2-0, and the first time since that same year that the Highlanders were alone atop the Big West standings. UCR finished the 2005 season with an undefeated 4-0-3 mark.
