Men's Soccer Rolls to Oral Roberts, SMU
September 15, 2015 | Men's Soccer
UPCOMING MATCHES
UC Irvine Anteaters at Oral Roberts Golden Eagles
Thursday, September 17, 2015
5:00 PM - Tulsa, Okla.
Live Stats Live Stream
UC Irvine Anteaters at SMU Mustangs
Sunday, September 20, 2015
5:00 - Dallas, Tex.
Live Stats Live Stream
SAN DIEGO STALEMATES
Following a humbling trip to the Midwest, Head Coach Chris Volk and the Anteaters began to turn it around back home in the southland with a pair of draws.
Friday night, the 'Eaters laced it up in San Diego with the Toreros which saw a scoreless start turn to 1-1 in just 10 minutes. A second half filled with seven yellow cards and two reds bled into overtime for the squads each down a man. Keeper Michael Breslin needed to make three tough saves in the overtime periods to secure the draw.
Sunday night, the crew returned to Anteater Stadium to break up their five-match road stretch and face San Diego State. A pair of early chances led to a scoreless first half, but the feel changed in the 61st minute with a straight red card to Andy Mendoza leaving the 'Eaters a man down for the rest of the match.
UC Irvine withstood a barrage of Aztec chances and built two sterling scoring opportunities of its own, but the match was destined for overtime. Between the ebb and flow of SDSU's building offense and UCI's timed counterstrikes, each side's defenses were up to the task keeping the match scoreless for the draw.
"Our team character and cohesion have been strengthened through the adverse conditions of playing three road games and playing a man down at times as well," coach Volk said of his team's determined demeanor over the early going.
This marks just the sixth time in program history it has competed in consecutive draws (1985, 1996, 2003, 2007, 2008). The most recent time in 2008 featured three draws in a row beginning with a scoreless draw at home to CSUN before back-to-back 1-1 draws at Cal Poly and UC Davis in conference play.
The scoreless draw Sunday night was just the 16th in program history in 635 total matches. It was just the sixth to happen at home, and second in a home non-conference match to go with a 0-0 finish in 2005 when UCI hosted Illinois-Chicago.
RECORD PLAYERS
The weekend's matches were actually part of the Courtyard Marriott San Diego Central Aztec Tournament hosted by San Diego State. By scoring his first career goal and points and adding two more shots with one on target against SDSU, freshman Ivan Canales earned the Offensive MVP honor for the tournament. Along with him on the all-tournament team were defensive stars Matthew Tilley, Jack Birkenbeuel, and Michael Breslin.
Senior keeper Michael Breslin was on the ball again stopping 11 shots over the weekend pushing his season total to 21. In the process, he surpassed Cameron Rossi and Andrew Fontein on the all-time list planting himself in third with 253. His next landmark will be the 300-mark which has only been reached by two other players in Chris Taylor (339) and Mike Gartland (397).
Breslin has stretched his shutout streak to 211 minutes and has stopped the last 10 shots he's seen. His streak highs in 2014 were 419 minutes and 19 saves without allowing a goal.
NOTED NOTABLES
UC Irvine has earned a perennial spot in the rankings. The NSCAA preseason polls came out with the Anteaters at No. 20 after finishing the 2014 campaign at No. 14. No. 20 seemed to be the lowest ranking for the 'Eaters in the preseason. The trusty College Soccer News hailed UCI as No. 19 in the nation. Soccer America pegged the 'Eaters as No. 18 along with the newly-minted Hero Sports. Top Drawer Soccer gave UCI the biggest boost at No. 11.
Lately, the 'Eaters have fallen in many of the rankings receiving only votes in College Soccer News and Top Drawer Soccer. Hero Sports has them rated at No. 27 while the NSCAA and Soccer America have dropped them completely.
Elsewhere on Top Drawer Soccer are player rankings with two 'Eaters finding their way onto them. TDS ranks the top 100 collegiate players across the country with senior Mats Bjurman coming in at No. 38. His teammate junior Matthew Tilley rounds out the list at No. 100.
The Big West Conference preseason poll is also up with the 'Eaters chosen to take the Big West South crown. Last season, UCI finished second behind UC Riverside which is exactly where the coaches projected them to land. The all-conference preseason squad consists of three Anteaters, seniors Bjurman and Calzada, and junior Michael Sperber.
SOUTHWEST SWING
The 'Eaters return to the road and into a pair of places they've never been against a pair of programs they've never matched up with in Oral Roberts and Southern Methodist. Coach Volk has the team's head screwed on right with another ride on the road ahead of them.
"We are traveling to uncharted territories, ORU and SMU, for the first time in the history of the program. Our focus will be on playing well and getting positive results in both matches. There will be plenty of time off the field to enjoy the sights along the way."
The Golden Eagles are 1-3-1 early on earning a split with Incarnate Word, drawing with Missouri State, and falling hard to Tulsa and Saint Mary's most recently. They are coming off an 8-8-2 season in 2014 and bring back one-third of their goals. Top scorers Johnny Chavez (10 G, 2 A) and Edgardo Mira (3 G, 6 A) have gone leaving the reins to junior Matthew Rogers and senior Tarik Salkicic. Rogers currently leads the squad with two of its four tallies, both coming on PKs.
The defensive backline is manned by senior Arturo Rodriguez, junior Javo Reyes, and sophomore Isaac Fraley while senior midfielder Alex White holds it all together. Junior keeper Ben Lacourse put up five shutouts and a 1.64 goals-against-average in 2014, and has returned to stop nine shots and allow nine goals thus far through five matches.
ORU was picked to finish in the middle of the Summit League. UCI has already gone up against one Summit League foe this year falling at Omaha, and are 3-3-2 against league members with five of those matches coming against Denver.
UCI's next stop will be Texas for the first time ever in Dallas to face SMU. The Mustangs returned with a favorable 10-6-2 record in 2014 after the 2012 NCAA Tournament participant fell to a dismal 3-12-2 record the year before. After starting with wins vs. Sacramento State and Illinois-Chicago, SMU has dipped to 2-2-2 with draws against Harvard and Portland and losses to Boston College and Stanford. They have played a lot of soccer recently similar to the 'Eaters reaching the second overtime in three consecutive matches.
Of their top three scorers, only Damian Rosales (6 G, 2 A) departs. Seniors Idi Camara and John Lujano return to the fold. The main weapon so far has been sophomore Mauro Cichero putting up three goals and three assists through six matches. Other contributors have been junior Stanton Garcia (2 G) and sophomore Jared Rice (3 A).
The youth of the Mustang squad has shone through in the early going including sophomore keeper Michael Nelson returning from a 59-save, 0.98-GAA season in 2014 to stop 22 shots already in 2015.
SMU has the offense clicking scoring at least two goals in five of six matches to date. They also pick up speed as the game progresses putting home seven of 10 goals in the second half with four coming in the final 10 minutes.
SMU is the third American Athletic Conference opponent UCI will have tussled with. The 'Eaters fell at South Florida most recently in 2011 along with a neutral site win against Memphis.
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