UCSD Men Host East Bay, Unbeaten Stan State

September 24, 2015

THE SCHEDULE
Match 8 - First Friday
vs. Cal State East Bay (1-5, 0-2 CCAA)
Friday, Sept. 25 • 4:30 p.m.
Triton Soccer Stadium • La Jolla
Live Stats

Match 9
vs. RV Stanislaus State (7-0, 2-0 CCAA)
Sunday, Sept. 27 • 11:30 a.m.
Triton Soccer Stadium • La Jolla
Live Stats

UCSD WRAPS HOMESTAND WITH EAST BAY, FIRST-PLACE STAN STATE
The UC San Diego men's soccer team concludes a season-long four-game homestand with two California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) contests this weekend. The Tritons (2-2-3, 1-0-1 CCAA) take on Cal State East Bay (1-5, 0-2 CCAA) this Friday, Sept. 25, at 4:30 p.m., and unbeaten league leader Stanislaus State (7-0, 2-0 CCAA) on Sunday, Sept. 27, at 11:30 a.m. Both matches at Triton Soccer Stadium will serve as the first halves of doubleheaders with the Triton women, who take the field at 7 p.m. and 2 p.m., respectively. UCSD is an undefeated 2-0-1 at home in 2015, and has not surrendered a goal in La Jolla over the 290 minutes played.

MATCHDAY SPECS
Once again in 2015, all regular-season home matches at Triton Soccer Stadium are free to attend. Parking permits are required, however, on weeknights on the UCSD campus. Parking permits can be purchased at machines situated at corners of either of the nearest parking lots, behind the spectator stand, as well as the Hopkins Parking Structure behind RIMAC. Parking is free on Sunday. All games, home and away, have live stats. Some matches will feature video and/or audio. All live links are available here.

FREE T-SHIRTS ON FIRST FRIDAY
This is UCSD Welcome Week, with students finally back on campus and the fall quarter in session as of Thursday, Sept. 24. UCSD students attending the doubleheader with Cal State East Bay on First Friday, will receive their free Triton gameday t-shirt, courtesy of Toyota. Tweet and Instagram pictures from Triton Soccer Stadium using the #TritonsRising and #UCSDWelcomeWeek hashtags.

COMPLETE THE TRITON TRIFECTA FOR GREAT PRIZES!
UCSD students who attended the women's volleyball home opener on Tuesday night and the men's water polo match on Wednesday, need to also have their student ID swiped at the soccer doubleheader this Friday night against Cal State East Bay, to be eligible to win a great San Diego amusement prize package as part of our Welcome Week Triton Trifecta! The prize pack includes Padres tickets, a Del Mar Races clubhouse package, a $250 gift card to the San Diego Zoo, four hours of limo service, and Triton Athletics gear! For a chance to win, you need to attend (for FREE) all three events this week and have your student ID scanned at each entrance.

A LOOK BACK AT LAST WEEK
UCSD whitewashed a pair of conference foes to begin the league schedule at home last weekend, edging rival Cal Poly Pomona 1-0 Friday on a 58th-minute strike from Uly de la Cal, before playing to a scoreless deadlock with Cal State San Bernardino on Sunday night. Cameron McElfresh needed to make only three saves over the 200 minutes, to notch his second and third shutouts on the year.

PREMIER DEFENSE
UCSD has boasted one of the top seven defenses nationally in the NCAA Division II in terms of team goals-against average in each of the last three seasons. The Tritons led the country in that category in 2012 with a then-CCAA-record mark of 0.44, before finishing fourth in 2013 (0.52) and seventh in 2014 (0.65). Their current average stands at 0.91. Uncharacteristically at California Baptist (9/12), UCSD allowed three goals in a single match for the first time since another 3-0 road defeat, at Cal State Dominguez Hills, on Oct. 14, 2012. The Tritons had gone 50 consecutive games without allowing that many opposition scores. They have yet to concede in 290 minutes at home in 2015.

TRITON NOTES
UCSD is 11-3-2 in season openers in the Division II era, and is unbeaten (2-0-1) over its last three, including the 1-1 draw at Saint Martin's (9/3) ... UCSD is 9-5-2 in CCAA openers after successive 1-0 triumphs at Cal State L.A. and vs. Cal Poly Pomona ... UCSD was picked by league head coaches to place fourth in the 2015 CCAA preseason poll, with reigning West Region champion Cal State L.A. the favorite with eight of 13 first-place votes ... The Tritons are coming off of back-to-back trips to both the CCAA and NCAA tournaments ... UCSD has posted a winning record in five straight seasons and six out of seven under head coach Jon Pascale ... The Tritons went 10-4-6 overall and 5-2-4 in CCAA play in 2014, tying for third in the then-12-team league.

ROSTER NOTES
Among 28 players on the 2015 roster are 15 returners, 13 newcomers, and no seniors ... Nine players have made their Triton debuts so far this season, including five true freshmen and junior Justice Duerksen, a transfer from Division I Seattle University who has started all seven matches on the left wing ... UCSD returns the hub of its defense in redshirt juniors Cameron McElfresh in goal and Brett Sampiere (Solana Beach/Torrey Pines HS) and Kuba Waligorski on the back line ... Waligorski was a Daktronics All-West Region Second Team and All-CCAA Second Team pick in a first go-around in La Jolla for the native of Poland, while McElfresh garnered All-CCAA honorable mention in his first full season as the starting net-minder ... Sampiere earned All-CCAA honorable mention in 2013 before being forced to sit out 12 of 20 games a year ago ... Besides Sampiere, other San Diego products are sophomore winger Zachary Lagotta (Cathedral Catholic HS) and true freshmen Nathaniel Bloom (Encinitas/San Dieguito HS Academy) and Daniel Boemer (Scripps Ranch HS) ... Bloom's first collegiate goal proved to be the decider in the 26th minute of UCSD's first win of 2015, vs. Concordia (9/8) in the home opener.

HEAD COACH JON PASCALE
Jon Pascale, a two-time CCAA Coach of the Year through back-to-back honors in 2012 and 2013, has posted a 70-42-28 (.600) overall record in his eighth season in charge of the UCSD men's soccer program. He is 52-34-20 (.585) in arguably the toughest NCAA Division II conference in the nation, the CCAA. Pascale has guided the Tritons to five straight winning campaigns, six of his seven, and two successive berths in both the CCAA Championship and NCAA Championship. A 1-0 home victory over Sonoma State on Sept. 29, 2013, gave him career win No. 50, while a 2-0 triumph at Cal State Stanislaus in the very next match on Oct. 4 marked his 100th contest at the Triton helm. Pascale directed his first postseason tilt on Nov. 8, 2013, in Turlock, a come-from-behind, 2-1 overtime win over rival Chico State in a CCAA Championship semifinal. He made his NCAA Championship debut as a head coach on Nov. 16, 2013, in La Jolla. A 2-0 home decision over Cal State East Bay on Oct. 12, 2014, meant CCAA win No. 50 for Pascale, who coached his 100th CCAA tilt at Cal State Monterey Bay five days later.

ABOUT THE PIONEERS
Cal State East Bay (1-5, 0-2 CCAA) will be facing its first road test of 2015 in La Jolla on Friday evening. The Pioneers, picked to place 12th in the league table, have dropped five straight since a 3-0 season-opening victory over Dominican, including losses of 2-1 to Cal State Monterey Bay and 3-1 to SF State to begin CCAA play last week. Andy Cumbo is in his seventh season at the helm.

SERIES HISTORY
UCSD has never lost to Cal State East Bay, posting nine wins and a single draw in 10 prior meetings. The Tritons won 2-0 in La Jolla last Oct. 12 and 2-0 in Hayward in 2013. The lone tie came in scoreless fashion in Hayward on Oct. 26, 2012. The Tritons have not allowed a goal to the Pioneers over their last seven-plus matchups, meaning 652:30 without a score going back to a 3-2 UCSD win in Hayward on Oct. 9, 2009. The Tritons are 7-0-1 against the Pioneers since East Bay joined the CCAA for the 2009 season, with prior meetings in Hayward as fellow Division III programs in 1992 (3-1) and 1994 (2-1), when the school was known as Cal State Hayward.

ABOUT THE WARRIORS
Stanislaus State (7-0, 2-0 CCAA), formerly known as Cal State Stanislaus, is favored for fifth in the CCAA. The Warriors have only had one other road contest, a 2-0 decision at Notre Dame de Namur, but do play at Cal State San Marcos on Friday afternoon prior to Sunday's La Jolla visit. They have posted three straight shutout victories, 9-0 over Holy Names, 2-0 against SF State and 4-0 over Cal State Monterey Bay, and have out-scored opponents, 30-3. Forward Daniel Kuczynski paces the entire conference with his nine goals, 22 total points and 36 shots. Midfielder Gerardo Cazares has a CCAA-best six assists. A third senior, Russ Klabough, is the reigning CCAA Player of the Week, with Kuczynski both the national and conference honoree the week prior. Stanislaus State edged Chico State, 3-2, in the 2012 CCAA Championship final in Carson for its first-ever league banner. Dana Taylor is in his seventh season in charge.

SERIES HISTORY
UCSD leads the all-time series, 13-4-4. In the most recent meeting, Stan State knocked the Tritons out of the 2014 CCAA tournament in the first round, outlasting them in a penalty-kick tiebreaker, 5-4, after a scoreless deadlock through 110 minutes of play in La Jolla. The teams played to a 1-1 draw in last year's regular-season matchup, also in La Jolla. Sean Pleskow answered a 36th-minute Rafael Chavez opener in the 63rd, with both goals aided by fortuitous deflections. In 2013, the Tritons achieved their first road win over the Warriors in Turlock, 2-0, in their fourth try there of the Jon Pascale era after a trio of one-goal defeats. UCSD had taken two straight in the series, both in shutout fashion, prior to the most recent ties. The 2012 meeting in La Jolla saw Elan Gefen turn in the rebound from a Kian Malek shot that was saved, for the lone score of the night in the 55th minute. The Tritons are an unbeaten 5-0-3 against the Warriors at home since the teams became league rivals in 2000, with Stanislaus managing just two goals in those eight games, in 1-1 stalemates in 2007 and 2014.

GEAR UP
For the latest in Triton athletic gear, make sure to visit ucsdtritonsgear.com. Run by UCSD Athletics' online partner, Advanced-Online, the site provides an on-demand option for Triton athletic apparel and merchandise. Fans have access to over 600 products that can be processed and shipped within 24 hours.

FOR THE YOUNGER CROWD
Got some young Triton fans in your family? If they are in eighth grade or under, check out the Junior Triton Club. Membership includes a free t-shirt, admission to over 100 UCSD home athletic events, and much more!

SOCIAL MEDIA (#TritonsRising)
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UP NEXT
The Tritons hit the road next weekend, traveling to a pair of nationally-ranked CCAA foes. They first head to Carson to take on No. 14 Cal State Dominguez Hills on Friday, Oct. 2, at 4:30 p.m. UCSD then plays at No. 25 Cal State L.A. on Sunday, Oct. 4, at 11:30 a.m.

#TritonsRising

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