Men's Soccer Brings It On Home vs. Cal State Fullerton, CSUN
October 27, 2015 | Men's Soccer
UPCOMING MATCHES
Cal State Fullerton Titans at UC Irvine Anteaters
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
7:00 PM - Anteater Stadium
Live Stats Game Program
CSUN Matadors at UC Irvine Anteaters
Saturday, October 31, 2015
7:00 PM - Anteater Stadium
Live Stats Game Program
NET GAINS
UC Irvine rode an offensive surge last week to a pair of road wins and get the squad moving in the right direction.
Wednesday night in Riverside saw a five-goal outburst from the 'Eaters led by a five-point night (2 G, 1 A) from Eduardo Calzada and four-point nights (1 G, 2 A) for Ivan Canales and Jaime Phillips. Senior keeper Michael Breslin was the one casualty from the match, and was replaced by Elliot Farmer in the 61st minute. The duo came together to allow a lone goal via a penalty kick.
Following his first career goal Wednesday night, freshman Jorge Lara rang home his second to open Saturday night's match at CSUN in the second minute. UCI closed out the 2-0 victory with a 76th minute goal to deliver Farmer his first career win and shutout in net.
Lara's efforts earned him Big West Defensive Player of the Week honors while Calzada scored his first career weekly offensive award.
The wins were the first two on the road this season for the club. It also marked the first two matches that the squad held a lead at the half, and it came away with wins in both.
Both matches featured goals in the first 12 minutes. The 'Eaters have five total this season in that timeframe as well as five in the final six minutes of a match. The 10-minute period from minute 61 to 71 has seen the most action with eight goals.
UCI has two particular times it has bunched its scoring together. The 67th and 68th minutes have each featured two goals this season, and the same can be said of the 84th and 85th minutes.
PARTY DOWN SOUTH
The Anteaters have thrown themselves into the middle of the Big West South playoff picture with last week's performance, and enter the final week of the regular season with a chance to finish on top, in last, and anywhere in-between.
In order for the Anteaters to win the Big West South, a few things will need to happen:
The easiest route would be a win over Cal State Fullerton Wednesday night and a win vs. CSUN coupled with a CSUF loss or draw at UC Riverside leaving UCI clear of the rest of the division with 16 points.
Should the Titans win Saturday's match and end even with UCI at 16 points, the first tiebreaker is goal differential between the squads. The 'Eaters would need to win by four or more goals (UCI lost at CSUF 3-0).
Should UCI win by three goals, the next tiebreaker is road goals in the division. UCI has 7 with no matches left. CSUF stands at 1 with two remaining.
UCI, CSUF, and CSUN could all also finish atop with 13 points each. That scenario would have all head-to-head records even and road goals would come into play. CSUN is currently at 3 road goals with the match at UCI remaining.
The 'Eaters are really trying to, at worst, earn inclusion to the Big West Tournament. A win in either match this week would solidify that and keep them out of last place. Also, a loss in either match by UC Riverside would secure a spot for UCI.
"One of our team goals has been to earn a spot in the Big West Tournament and compete for the BWC Championship," voiced a confident Head Coach Chris Volk. "We are one of eight teams in the conference still vying for the same opportunity. The players all know what is at stake this week. They have had to fight to earn their way back into contention for a postseason invitation. They are all 100% committed to achieving the needed results."
The North Division is just as convoluted. UCSB sits atop with 16 points, one ahead of Cal Poly. In the bottom half, Sac State (10 pts) trails UC Davis by a point (11 pts) for the last spot with all four programs still in danger of missing the tournament.
LAST MAN STANDING
UC Irvine has the slight advantage of ending the regular season at home, a place where it is 3-1-2 thus far on the year. It will also be the site where UCI will look to avenge a 3-0 loss to CSUF from two weeks ago. In two matches at Anteater Stadium last year between these squads, UCI took the regular season meeting, 1-0, while the Big West Final ended in a scoreless draw before CSUF took it in penalties.
The Titans came back down to Earth last week losing twice. CSUN erased a halftime lead to drop the Titans, 2-1, on Wednesday. Then on Saturday, the Highlanders equalized with 10 seconds left in regulation, and finished off the comeback early in the first overtime for the 2-1 win to save their season.
The Titans have a little more to deal with in Wednesday's upcoming match after losing a pair of freshmen to red cards in their last match in forward Ronaldo Pineda and defender Carlos Troncoso. Each has started 10 or more matches thus far and seen action in all 17 to this point.
Cal State Fullerton has not had the most success away from home this season with just two wins (at Santa Clara, at CSUN), a draw (at Cal Poly) and four losses.
The Titans have locked up a tournament spot already, and a minimum of four points over these next two matches will secure first place along with many other scenarios.
Saturday brings in CSUN who stand in line with the 'Eaters at the moment with 10 points. CSUN did swipe a late win from the Titans last Wednesday, but were shutout by UCI to finish the weekend.
The Matadors do have one striking advantage over the rest of the teams in the conference and that is road success. Six of CSUN's seven wins have come on the road with the lone losses coming early in the year at Creighton and Omaha. CSUN is 6-0-1 in its last seven road matches and has yet to be shutout in any road matches this season.
CSUN have a very similar route to the tournament as the Anteaters. A win or draw on Wednesday at UC Riverside secures their spot in the tournament. They will be looking for help to earn a Big West title needing a minimum of one loss from CSUF to get into the mix.
A loss from each squad on Wednesday will set up a potential winner-take-all matchup for the final playoff spot.
"This is a big week for our program and our seniors. Each senior has a made an impression on this season and will leave a legacy of their contributions from their playing careers here at UC Irvine. Our team wants to ensure that this senior class has the opportunity to extend their careers into next week by playing in the Big West Tournament. Every player must be willing to sacrifice for each other."
That senior class includes the goalkeeping duo of Michael Breslin and Elliot Farmer, the South American duo at forward of Jaime Phillips and Thom Moreira, and the crop in the midfield of Gerardo Gonzalez, Eduardo Calzada, and Mats Bjurman.
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