RIVERSIDE—The Highlanders will take to the road for this week's matchups as they take on the conferences two undefeated teams UC Santa Barbara (9-2-2, 2-0 Big West) on Wednesday night, and UC Davis (8-3-1, 2-0 Big West) on Saturday night.
The men's team finished the opening weekend of conference play at .500, as they lost (2-0) to UC Irvine but returned home to hand Cal Poly a loss (1-0), with a goal from junior Hugo Magana Jr; who for his efforts was named UC Riverside Athlete of the Week.
The Highlanders Through the Numbers
The Highlanders are currently tied for fourth in the conference with a 1-1 record and are currently ranked #60 in the NCAA RPI report. Following last week's games, the Highlanders have the 2nd best goals against average in the conference (0.96) and are 3rd in shutouts with 4 in 13 games. The Highlanders haven't quite found their stride on the offensive end though, with just 13 goals in 13 games. Nonetheless they look to heat up this weekend as they take on UCSB and UC Davis.
Scouting the Gauchos
The UCSB Gauchos have a share of first place in the conference following an opening weekend where they went 2-0 against Sacramento State and CSUF. The Gauchos had high expectations going into this season, following the previous season in which they fell to CSUF in the first round of the Big West Conference tournament, and failed to appear in the NCAA tournament. There bounce back though, has been tremendous as they are currently ranked #24 in the nation, and their roster features this week's BWC Offensive Player of the Week in Rodney Michael, as well as the BWC Freshman of the Week in Finn McBride.
On the offensive end the Gauchos lead the conference in goals with 29 and are second in the conference in assists with 27. The Gauchos have also featured a stout defense, that leads the conference in shutouts with 6 in 13 games, and is 3rd in the conference for goals against, only behind UC Davis, and UC Riverside.
The Series: UC Riverside vs UC Santa Barbara
The Gauchos hope to avenge last season's 1-0 loss to the Highlanders, with home field advantage on their side this time around. While the Highlanders will look to slow a confident offense in UCSB and hand the team their first conference loss of the season. The game will be at Harder Stadium on Wednesday October 16th, at 7 p.m.
Scouting UC Davis
The UC Davis men's soccer team currently shares a piece of first place going into week two of the conference schedule. In their first two games of the season they handed 1-0 losses to both Cal Poly and CSUN. With those two wins, the Aggies find themselves on a five-game winning streak, with their last loss coming nearly a month ago.
The Aggies have performed well on both sides of the ball, as they currently are 1st in the conference in goals allowed with 9 and 2nd in the conference in shutouts with 5. The defense is led by junior Nabi Kibunguchy, who is this week's BWC Defensive Player of the Week. The Aggies are also firmly in the middle of the pack with goals, in which they currently have 17 on the season. While four of those goals have come from senior Kristian Heptner.
Wrap it Up: The Series: UC Riverside vs UC Davis
The Highlanders will look to finish off the weekend 2-0, as they take on UC Davis. The most recent matchup between these two teams, last fall, left the Aggies quite deflated, as they were sent home while the Highlanders celebrated their Big West Conference title. Nonetheless, this matchup should be quite tantalizing as the Aggies will look to begin avenging last season's losses (regular season and conference championship). The game will be held at Aggie Soccer Field on Saturday October 19, at 3p.m.
A Look Back
The 2019 season saw the UC Riverside men's soccer team pick up right where they left off last November. As the Highlanders finished non-conference play with a 5-4-2 record, which included a Top #25 Ranking by Soccer America the week of September 25th. This was the first top 25 ranking for the program since September 2012.
Offensive Outlook
The UC Riverside men's soccer team has found the back of the net 13 times, with 8 different goal scorers. Including 3 goals from junior forward Roberto Garcia-Vargas, and with his goal against Cal Poly, Hugo Magana Jr. also has posted 3 goals.
Defensive Dominance
Goalkeeper Edwyn Gutierrez has been between the posts for all non-conference competitions and is tied for 3rd in the conference with a Goals Against Average at 0.88 per game, as well as Saves with 42, and Shutouts with 4. Gutierrez also received the conference's Defensive Player of the week award during the week of September 16-22nd, as he tallied a career high in saves with 9.
