Riverside—The UC Riverside Women's Soccer Team finishes its three-match home stand this Friday with a 7 pm PT kick off against Southern Utah.
The Highlanders (1-1-2) are coming off of their first win of the season—a 1-0 shutout of North Dakota State Sunday evening (
box score/
recap). Tayler Dragoo's free kick from just outside the Bison defensive 18 was all the offense UC Riverside would need, and the redshirt senior now leads the team with two scores on the year.
Alanna Guzman pitched her second shutout of the year, and now has a goals against average of 0.68 to go along with a conference-leading 24 saves.
Southern Utah is 0-2-0 on the year following road losses to Utah Valley (2-0) and Florida Atlantic (2-1). Ally Thimsen has the lone score of the season for the Thunderbirds. She was also Southern Utah's top scorer from a year ago when she netted seven goals.
Kaitlyn Caldera (3.00 GAA) has started both of the Thunderbirds' matches between the pipes this season, but Alanna Carbonaro (0.00 GAA) and Destiny Collins (2.00 GAA) have also seen time. Caldera had three starts a year ago as the primary back up to Taylor Bolding, posting a 1.00 goals against average and a perfect 3-0-0 mark.
The Highlanders are 8-1-0 all-time against the Thunderbirds, and defeated SUU last season by a score of 4-2 (
box score/
recap/
video recap).
GAME NOTES
THOSE WHO DO NOT STUDY HISTORY ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT IT
Three years 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.
Two years ago, Big West coaches again picked the Highlanders to finish last only to watch as UCR finished in fifth place, one game out of playoff spot.
Last season, conference coaches pegged UC Riverside to come in eighth place, and they finished fourth, advancing to their second conference tournament in three years.
This year, the Highlanders are picked to finish sixth. When will they ever learn.
LENDING A HELPING FOOT
In just two years with the Highlanders, Blanca Barrio ranks second on the Highlanders' career assists chart with 13. That is two assists behind Tyler Cunningham's record of 15.
YOU OLD BLANKETY-BLANK
The Highlanders record for shutouts in a season is 10 set by the 2003 team and later tied by the 2005 squad. This year's version has two clean sheets in four matches, and a goals against average of 0.68. The program record for lowest GAA in a season is 0.70 set in 2004.
Alanna Guzman owns a 0.68 goals against average through four matches. If she maintains that average, it would best the program record of 0.69 set by Tawny Poggio in the 2004 campaign.
SEVEN YEAR ITCH
Tyler Cunningham's seven goals last year were the most for a member of the Highlanders since Tessa Lennala netted 11 back in the 2009 campaign.
DOUBLE DIGITS
The Highlanders reached the 10-win plateau last year for the first time since the 2006 season.
| Year |
W |
L |
T |
| 2004 |
13 |
2 |
3 |
| 2003 |
11 |
7 |
3 |
| 2005 |
11 |
4 |
6 |
| 2015 |
11 |
9 |
0 |
| 2002 |
10 |
8 |
1 |
| 2006 |
10 |
7 |
1 |
GONE STREAKING
The Highlanders won three straight matches from August 30 through September 6, 2015. That marked the first time UCR won three straight since the 2009 season. They also won three straight from October 9 through 16, 2015. The last time UC Riverside won four matches in a row was early in the 2006 season.
ONE IS THE LONELIEST NUMBER
Elizabeth Silas posted a goals against average of 0.94 last season, becoming just the third keeper in program history to record a sub-1.00 GAA. The other two are Tawny Poggio, who did it three times (0.69 in 2004, 0.81 in 2005, and 0.88 in 2003) and Jessica White (0.80 in 2009).
THE MAGIC NUMBER IS TWO
The Highlanders are 28-4-2 over the past four seasons when scoring two or more goals in a match. Their last loss when scoring two or more goals was a 3-2, double overtime decision at UC Santa Barbara this year.
RARIFIED AIR
The 2015 Highlanders five conference wins last year tied the program record for most Big West wins in a season.
| Season |
W |
L |
T |
Pts |
Place |
| 2003 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
16 |
Third |
| 2015 |
5 |
3 |
0 |
15 |
Fourth |
| 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 Blanca Barrio to the preseason All-Conference Team.
SPREADING THE WEALTH
Sixteen different Highlanders dented the back of the net in 2014, which is the most in the history of the program. Twelve different players had 28 total scores for the team last season.
