UC Riverside
New Mexico (#6)
Men's Soccer Heads To #6 New Mexico For Grange & Ashwill Memorial Tournament
9/4/2014 4:09:00 PM | Men's Soccer
| Highlanders at Lobo Invitational | |
| vs. New Mexico | vs. American |
| September 5 at 6 pm | September 7 at 11 am |
| Live Stats Link / Live Video Link | Live Stats Link |
| Click for Ticket Information | |
Albuquerque, NM—The UC Riverside Men's Soccer Team faces its toughest test of the young season this weekend as the Highlanders travel to Albuquerque, New Mexico for the Grange & Ashwill Memorial Tournament hosted by the New Mexico Lobos.
UCR is coming off of a 5-1 season-opening victory over Pacific which saw junior transfer Michael Salazar score the first hat trick in the Highlanders Division I history (box score/recap/video recap). He also added an assist, setting the program's Division I-era record for points in a match as well. The Big West and College Sports Madness honored Salazar with Offensive Player of the Week (story) and Player of the Week accolades respectively (story), while College Soccer News named him to their 12-man National Team of the Week (story).
The Highlanders square off against the host Lobos on Friday beginning at 6 pm PT. New Mexico is ranked in the top 10 in the nation in all four major polls, and as high a number six. The Lobos began the season with a 1-0 win over 13th-ranked Akron.
American heads west with a 1-1 record in tow after splitting a pair of matches at the #KuykenStrong D.C. College Cup last week defeating George Washington, 2-0, and falling to George Mason, 1-0.
This is the first meeting between the Highlanders and both the Lobos and the Eagles.
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| Highlanders at Grange & Ashwill Memorial Tournament | |||||||||||
| UC Riverside | New Mexico | American | |||||||||
| 2014 Stats & Record | 1-0-0 | 1-0-0 | 1-1-0 | ||||||||
| xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx | Schedule | Schedule | Schedule | ||||||||
| Roster | Roster | Roster | |||||||||
| Current Streak | W 1 | W 1 | L 1 | ||||||||
| Last Box Score | W, 5-1 at Riverside | W, 1-0 at Albuquerque | L, 1-0 at Washington | ||||||||
| Top Scorer x x x x |  | Michael Salazar Junior 3 goals, 1 assist 7 points |  | Oniel Fisher Senior 1 goal, 0 assists 2 points |  | Liam Robley Freshman 1 goal, 1 assist 3 points | |||||
| Top Goalkeeper x x x x |  | Ashkan Khosravi Junior 1 match 1.0 gaa, 2 saves |  | Patrick Poblete Senior 1 match 0.0 gaa, 2 saves |  | Dylan Hobert Junior 2 matches .50 gaa, 5 saves | |||||
| Record vs. | 0-0-0 | 0-0-0 | |||||||||
| Current Streak vs. | 1st meeting | 1st meeting | |||||||||
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. In 2012, UC Riverside won its first seven matches, but a 2-0 loss to CSU Bakersfield ended the Highlanders perfect run. Last season it was 11th-ranked UCLA who hung the first loss of the year on UC Riverside.
LET THE OCTOPI FLY
Michael Salazar became the first player in UC Riverside's Division I history to record a hat trick in the team's season-opening, 5-1 victory over visiting Pacific (box score/recap/video recap). He also added an assist, setting the program's Division I-era record for points in a match as well. The Big West and College Sports Madness honored Salazar with Offensive Player of the Week (story) and Player of the Week accolades respectively (story), while College Soccer News named him to their 12-man National Team of the Week (story).
FIRING BLANKS
The Highlanders broke the program's Division I era record for consecutive shutout minutes in 2012 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 in 2013 with a streak of 280:40 straight scoreless minutes that began in the final match of the 2012 season.
UC Riverside's 1-0 shutout win over Cal State Northridge on November 2, 2013 (box score/recap) was the team's seventh of the season, breaking the school record for most shutouts in a season set by the 2007 squad.
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.
ALL OR NOTHING
UC Riverside was 7-0-3 in 2013 when allowing one goal or less. In games in which the Highlanders allowed two or more goals, they were 2-8.
SPREADING THE WEALTH
A different member of the Highlanders accounted for the game-winning goal in each of the team's nine victories last season.
HEADED TO THE POLLS
The Highlanders received their highest-ever national rankings in 2012, rising as high as 19th in the NSCAA poll. In the September 9, 2013 TopDrawerSoccer poll, UC Riverside was receiving consideration for the first time last 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 |
BACK-TO-BACK
The Highlanders recorded their first-ever winning season as a Division I program in 2011, and made it back-to-back-to-back winning campaigns in 2012 and 2013 posting records of 10-8-0 and 9-8-3. Those 10 victories also established a Division I-era, single-season record for the program.
NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS
With a 7-1-0 mark in non-conference matches in 2012, the Highlanders broke 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-plus seasons, UCR is 18-5-3 in non-conference matches.
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 advanced to their second conference tournament in three years by finishing third in the South Division of the Big West a year ago.
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