Big West Title On The Line on Senior Night
November 04, 2014 | Men's Soccer
UPCOMING MATCHES
UC Riverside Highlanders at No. 18 UC Irvine Anteaters
Wed., Nov. 5 / 7:00 PM
Anteater Stadium
SENIOR SALUTE
The regular season concludes Wednesday night in what may or may not be the final match at Anteater Stadium for the senior Anteaters.
The longest-tenured seniors are represented by Cameron Iwasa and Lester Hayes III each putting in over 75 matches over the last four seasons. Iwasa leads all active 'Eaters with 18 goals and 49 points, each slightly outside of the program's career top ten. He has had a knack for game-winners with six in his career, 10th-best all-time.
Hayes III follows closely with 12 goals and 28 points. He's searching for his first game-winner of the season, something he has recorded in each prior season, including a big-time strike last season to down No. 16 Louisville on the road.
Mitchell Alvarez and Bryan Breslin represent the backline. Breslin was recently named to the NSCAA Academic All-District squad, the 10th Anteater to do so and first since 2010. He's also added three goals, two game-winners, and a hand in 15 shutouts over his career.
Alvarez is fairly new to the defensive side, but he has made an appearance in every third during his career. He's added three goals, game-winners in consecutive matches last season, five assists, and has wielded a top-tier beard along the way.
The three remaining seniors have titles of fifth-year, two-year transfer, and redshirt junior. Dennis Martinez is the class' lone fifth-year senior who has really come on in his last two seasons scoring all six of his goals including three game-winners.
Gor Kirakosyan has made plenty of noise in his two seasons at UCI scoring nine times in his first 19 matches and adding eight assists, three game-winners, and three Big West Player of the Week awards.
Daniel Coates has the distinction of graduating as a junior. After redshirting his freshman season, the very vocal defender has been plugged in in key situations such as the 'Eaters' Sweet Sixteen match at Maryland, this season's shutout win vs. CSUF, and starts at UCLA and UCSB. He'll be in search of his 13th cap and first career point.
CONFERENCE CRUNCH
After a week of soccer, not much was decided, and it comes down to the final match of the season to determine tournament berths and placement. Here's a look what we do know for sure:
The Big West South is nicely portioned with each school separated by a point each. The Anteaters control their own destiny leading the conference with 13 points. A win or draw on Wednesday will clinch the Big West South for the second straight year and a bye to the semifinals.
A loss would slip UCI to No. 2 in the division should CSUF and CSUN play to a draw meaning it would host the first round match against the No. 3 North seed on Saturday. The 'Eaters would fall to No. 3 with a loss and a win by either the Titans or Matadors meaning UCI would head out on the road in its first-round game Saturday.
UC Riverside is the only other school that can win the South title by way of defeating the Anteaters Wednesday night. They have already secured a tournament berth.
Cal State Fullerton and CSUN will battle in the other match on Wednesday night. The Titans sit in the driver's seat with 11 points, one ahead of CSUN, and will clinch the final spot with a win or draw. CSUN needs to win to stay alive, but could jump to the No. 2-spot as long as the UCI-UCR match does not end in a draw.
In the Big West North, UCSB has clinched the Big West North title. UC Davis, Sac State, and Cal Poly are all fighting for the last two spots. There are many possibilities on seeding, but the most intriguing one would result from Cal Poly defeating UC Davis and Sac State drawing with UCSB leaving the three remaining schools tied with 14 points.
The tiebreaker would land in favor of Sac State by virtue of a split with Cal Poly and a win and draw in matches against UC Davis. CP and UCD would then come down to goal differential in head-to-head matchups which would go in favor of the Mustangs should they win by two or more goals on Wednesday.
The North will be decided earlier in the day with both matches taking place at 2:00 p.m. The North also has the tiebreaker in terms of where the championship match would be played should the same seeds face each other.
NUMBERS NEVER LIE
A split last week dropped the Anteaters to No. 18 in the NSCAA/Continental Tire rankings. It's the lowest the 'Eaters have sat in the poll this season, the previous low coming in week one at No. 17.
The 'Eaters are also ranked in the five other notable publications:
The Bennett Rank, which relies on statistics and calculations, slipped UCI to No. 19 eclipsing last week's new low at No. 18.
College Soccer News dropped the Anteaters to No. 18, its lowest rank since the preseason when they were listed at No. 19.
Top Drawer Soccer has dropped the 'Eaters eight spots in each of the last two rankings, and did so again this week sliding the 'Eaters from No. 18 to just outside the list receiving votes.
Soccer America dropped UC Irvine to No. 22 in its rankings, a new low topping the No. 20 preseason spot.
College Sports Madness has UCI at its highest point this week at No. 17. CSM had the 'Eaters at No. 30 in the preseason before dropping them from the rankings in the first week of the season.
UCI earned a preseason ranking four previous times from 2009-12 according to the NSCAA. Its highest preseason ranking came in 2012 at No. 13 in the nation. The 2014 Anteaters were ranked No. 16 in the preseason poll.
PAST PRESENCE
The Anteaters lie in a precarious position this week being bounced around the national rankings and within the conference.
The 'Eaters stand in a similar position to its 2010 season: 12-4-2, ranked No. 18 in the nation with losses to schools rated Nos. 47, 52, and 124 in RPI in the country. This season there's more substance backing the program. The non-conference numbers speak for themselves:
A draw at No. 3 RPI Georgetown, a squad that tied No. 2 Indiana and defeated No. 10 Creighton
A neutral-site win over No. 12 RPI Clemson, a squad with a win over No. 14 Providence, draw vs. No. 29 Louisville, and a stacked schedule featuring losses to No. 8 Syracuse, No. 7 Charlotte, and No. 13 North Carolina
A win at No. 36 West Virginia, a team who dropped No. 21 Penn State and lost tough to No. 34 New Mexico and No. 37 Elon
Road wins over LMU and 12-win UNLV who lie in RPI top-70
Win over USD, a squad that beat No. 1 RPI UCLA
Even an exhibition win over No. 5 RPI Cal for good measure who just also took down the No. 1 RPI, UCLA
The Anteaters can hang their hat on a stout resume, but there is plenty of soccer to go to reach that only sure-fire way to get in the tournament, a Big West title.
REVISITING RIVERSIDE
The Anteaters were dashed in its last meeting with UC Riverside back on Oct. 22 at UCR Soccer Field falling 2-1 in just its second loss of the season. UCR held possession and broke the scoring drought in the 79th minute. The 'Eaters fired back in the 80th minute on a penalty kick, only to succumb to the penalty kick in the 89th minute.
The series belongs to UCI, 15-8-3, with nine of those wins coming at Anteater Stadium. UCR has won just three of the 14 meetings in Irvine with two coming in the last three seasons each by a single goal. UCR will need a win to take the title away from UC Irvine since an Anteater win or draw would be enough to win the Big West South.
UCR has turned it up since conference play began going 3-3-3 after going just 1-6-1 in non-conference matches. The Highlanders' last six matches and all of its South division tilts have either been settled in the final five minutes or overtime, or ended in a draw. A win would give UCR its first regular season Big West title for a school that has not finished higher than third in the conference both before and since the conference was split into divisions.
Philipp Dominique registered his first career goal and point off a header in the last match. Hector Romo buried the game-winning penalty kick, his first goal of the season. Michael Salazar and Juan Mendoza command the scoring on the year with six and four goals, respectively. Ricardo Ruiz has registered five assists while Otis Earle and Romario Lomeli have added four of their own.
UCR puts up one of the highest shot-per-match totals in the conference and lead the Big West in shots in conference matches. It put up 20 against UCI, eight on target, while also out-fouling the 'Eaters, 24-13.
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