Seniors, Freshmen Come Together in Final Stretch
October 24, 2011 | Men's Soccer
THIS WEEK'S ACTION
#9 UC IRVINE ANTEATERS at
CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE MATADORS
Wednesday, Oct. 26 - 7:00 PM
Northridge, Calif. - Matador Soccer Field
UC RIVERSIDE HIGHLANDERS at
#9 UC IRVINE ANTEATERS
Saturday, Oct. 29 - 7:00 PM
Irvine, Calif. - Anteater Stadium
The Anteaters stuck out a pair of overtime matches ending up on both sides of the coin. Their whirlwind conference run continues with two teams with their sights set on the Big West tournament.
BREATH OF FRESH AIR: UCI (13-4-0, 5-2-0) saw freshmen score both of their goals last week as Lester Hayes III (Alexandria, Va. / De Matha Catholic HS) and Cameron Iwasa (Sacramento / Jesuit HS) found the back of the net.
Hayes' opened Wednesday's match against UC Davis with a goal to lead all freshmen with four goals and nine points. Iwasa joined him with his first goal as an Anteater. His 94th-minute blast sealed the overtime victory over CS Fullerton.
UCI has gotten four of their game-winners from freshmen. Iwasa and Hayes each have one, Juan Gutierrez (Santa Ana / Junipero Serra HS), like Iwasa, scored his against CSUF, while Victory Calderon (San Jacinto / San Jacinto HS) also had an overtime winner.
Freshman have accounted for 25% of UCI's goals this season and assisted on three of them.
SUPER SENIORS: UCI is celebrating its eight seniors this Saturday in their final regular season home match.
Four-year seniors Bello Alhassan (Ghana / Arizona Western College), Andrew Fontein (Las Vegas, Nev. / Sierra Vista HS), Norby Rodriguez (Thousand Oaks / Thousand Oaks HS), Syd Tom (Wahiawa, Hawaii / Leilehua HS), and team captain, Jimmy Turner (Mission Viejo / Mission Viejo HS) will be honored alongside other transfer seniors Christian Hernandez (Palmdale / Taft College), Jonathan Rivas (Norwalk / Cerritos College), and Miguel Ibarra (Lancaster / Taft College).
CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE MATADORS: The Matadors are coming off a huge upset over the No.7 UCLA Bruins coming from behind to win, 3-2, on the road. This coming after a loss to UC Riverside (2-1) evening out their record at 7-7-1.
CSUN has played a tough schedule playing six games against ranked opponents going 2-3-1 in those matches. It stands right in the middle of the Big West at 3-3-0.
Thomas Ramos and Edwin Rivas lead the Matadors in scoring with five goals each. Carlos Benavides has paced the team in assists with seven, and Chris Smith has followed suit with six.
Michael Abalos has stopped 48 shots earning a shutout in five his six victories.
UC RIVERSIDE HIGHLANDERS: The Highlanders are coming off a high-profile win of their own as their dropped No. 15 UCSB in Santa Barbara last week, 3-2. UCR has beaten them twice now in 2011. They also topped CSUN with a late flurry earlier in the week to go to 8-5-2.
Cesar Diaz Pizarro has been UCR's offensive weapon with seven goals, three of them game-winners, along with two assists. UCR has goals from 11 other players and assists from 14 others.
Cody Suppe has allowed 19 goals in 14 matches stopped 65 shots. Overall, he is 8-3-2 with three shutouts. He was absent from the previous UCI-UCR matchup, however.
HOW WE MATCH UP: The Anteaters are 15-18-2 all-time against CSUN after winning, 2-0, at home on Oct. 8. In Northridge, the teams are even at 9-9. UCI has won the last three matches there. Last season, the teams split with each losing their home match.
UCI holds the all-time lead against UC Riverside as well at 13-4-3. It won earlier this season, 5-1, at Riverside. At home, UCI is 6-1-1 with a win in four of the last five meetings.
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