THE SCHEDULE
Match 18 - Senior Night
vs. Cal State Dominguez Hills (8-7-2, 6-3-1 CCAA)
Thursday, Oct. 30 • 4:30 p.m.
Triton Soccer Stadium • La Jolla
Live Stats

Match 19 - CCAA Championship First Round
vs. TBD
Sunday, Nov. 2 • TBA
TBD • TBD

TRITONS LOOK TO SECURE FIRST-ROUND HOME GAME ON SENIOR NIGHT
The UC San Diego men's soccer team rounds out the 2014 regular season this week. The Tritons are 9-4-4 overall and tied for fourth place in the 12-team California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) standings with 16 points from a 4-2-4 mark. UCSD hosts rival Cal State Dominguez Hills this Thursday, Oct. 30. Kickoff at Triton Soccer Stadium is slated for 4:30 p.m. after a brief ceremony to honor six Tritons on Senior Night. Having already clinched a berth in the CCAA Championship, a win over the Toros would give the Tritons the No. 3 seed and another home date in the first round this Sunday, Nov. 2, at 12 p.m. Thursday's match will have live stats, and precedes the women's game at around 7 p.m. All regular-season contests at Triton Soccer Stadium are free to attend. UCSD is 6-3-1 in La Jolla in 2014.

TRITONS ROCK HUNGER
The Triton Athletes' Council (TAC) is joining with other campus organizations to collect canned goods and other non-perishable food items this week. Items collected will be donated to the San Diego Food Bank. Red barrels will be located at Triton Soccer Stadium during Thursday's doubleheader, as well as the main RIMAC lobby, and all fans are invited to join in the Tritons Rock Hunger effort.

FREE PIZZA!
In between games of Thursday's Senior Night doubleheader at Triton Soccer Stadium, there will be free pizza for UCSD students courtesy of UCSD Athletics corporate sponsor Papa John's Pizza.

FREE POSTERS, TOO
Free posters featuring both the UCSD men's and women's soccer teams will be available throughout the doubleheader at Triton Soccer Stadium this Thursday, Oct. 30, against Cal State Dominguez Hills. The posters are courtesy of Pepsi and UCSD Dining Services. The men's match kicks off at 4:30 p.m., with the women right after at 7 p.m.

SENIOR NIGHT
This Thursday is Senior Night, and six Tritons will be recognized prior to the scheduled 4:30 p.m. kickoff time. Those six are Brandon Bauman, A.J. Beloff, Alessandro Canale, Matthew McClure, Nick Roberts and Jacob Valadez.

NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
UCSD began the 2014 campaign exactly where it left off in 2013 in terms of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) poll. The association released its preseason listing back on Aug. 7. UCSD fell out of the top 25 when the first in-season edition was revealed on Sept. 9. The Tritons got as far up as No. 6 during an exceptional 2013 run, their highest position in the national poll of the Division II era. They are eighth in this week's NSCAA West Region poll, down from sixth. In the second installment of the official NCAA regional rankings unveiled Wednesday, the Tritons moved down a spot from No. 6 to No. 7. The top six teams in the NCAA's final West Region rankings will qualify for the 2014 NCAA Championship.

A LOOK BACK AT LAST WEEK
UCSD produced back-to-back ties away from home last weekend to round out a season-long four-match road swing at 0-1-3. The Tritons traded first-half goals with Sonoma State in what was ultimately a 1-1 draw through two overtimes on Friday afternoon. Sean Pleskow grabbed the opener for UCSD in the 28th minute off a feed from Brandon Bauman. The Tritons then rallied twice from one-goal deficits for a 2-2 stalemate at Humboldt State on Sunday. Kuba Waligorski notched the first equalizer in the 82nd minute, and then after the Jacks went up again at 87:39, Uly de la Cal tallied his first career goal with just 37 ticks left in regulation. Bauman's free kicks set up both UCSD scores, with Riley Harbour also gaining credit for assists on each.

POSTSEASON PICTURE
UCSD remained in fourth in the 12-team CCAA standings after last weekend's activity, now tied with Cal State San Bernardino at 16 points apiece. With one game left in the regular season, the Tritons have clinched a second straight CCAA Championship berth and seventh appearance overall, as they are assured of a top-six finish. The Tritons are three points behind third-place Cal State Dominguez Hills, who they will host this Thursday. A win would pull UCSD level with the Toros and give it the head-to-head tiebreaker, thus ensuring the No. 3 seed and a CCAA tourney first-round match in La Jolla this Sunday, Nov. 2, at 12 p.m. A tie or a loss Thursday, and results elsewhere will determine the Tritons' seed and whether they remain at home or travel on Sunday. Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State L.A. share the top spot at 27 points apiece, and have each clinched a first-round bye directly into the semifinals in Turlock next week. Those teams face off for the top seed Thursday in Pomona. Follow all the action from around the CCAA Thursday through the live scoreboard.

PREMIER DEFENSE
UCSD is 21st in the NCAA Division II in team goals-against average through games played on Oct. 26, with a 0.72 mark. The Tritons were up as high as seventh through Oct. 12. UCSD has boasted one of the top five defenses nationally in Division II in terms of GAA in each of the last two seasons. The Tritons led the country in the category in 2012 with a CCAA-record mark of 0.44, and finished fourth in 2013 at a 0.52 clip. UCSD had not allowed more than a single goal over 34 straight games going back to a 3-0 loss at Cal State Dominguez Hills on Oct. 14, 2012, prior to the 2-0 home loss to CPP on Sept. 28. Still, the Tritons have posted 29 shutouts over their last 55 matches. They have seven shutouts in 2014.

LATE-GAME HEROICS FOR BAUMAN
UCSD's first two road games in the CCAA this season resulted in 1-0 victories over big rivals, with the lone goal coming both times from senior playmaker Brandon Bauman. The Huntington Beach product converted his penalty kick in the 75th minute of the Sept. 26 win at Cal State L.A., and on Oct. 5, struck in the 85th minute to down archrival Chico State. Bauman assisted on all three UCSD goals this last weekend in a pair of ties at Sonoma State and Humboldt State. His team-leading nine assists put him in a three-way tie for first in the CCAA.

SCORE TWO, GET THE WIN
UCSD is an undefeated 7-0-1 in 2014 when scoring at least two goals. The Tritons are 2-4-3 when tallying less than two goals. Prior to Sunday's 2-2 draw in Arcata, UCSD had won 22 straight contests when finding the back of the net two or more times going back to late in the 2011 campaign. The team's last such loss was a 3-2 home decision to Cal State Dominguez Hills on Oct. 16, 2011. The Tritons have a pair of 4-0 triumphs and a 3-0 victory in 2014, all at home.

TRITON NOTES
After 11 wins by the final score of 1-0 over 2012 and 2013, UCSD has two in 2014 ... The Tritons' 4-0 victory over CSUSM was their most lopsided defeat and the most goals they have scored in a single game since a 5-0 triumph in the 2012 finale at Cal State Monterey Bay ... They since added a second 4-0 home win, over Cal State San Bernardino on Oct. 3, with three goals coming on free-kick organizations, and three via headers ... UCSD was picked to finish fifth by league head coaches in the CCAA preseason coaches' poll, garnering one of the 12 first-place votes ... Junior goalkeeper Cameron McElfresh has posted seven shutouts this season to give him 10 clean sheets for his career ... McElfresh ranks 24th nationally with his 0.721 goals-against average ... The four returning Triton starters from a year ago are midfielder Brandon Bauman, forward Alessandro Canale, and defenders Matthew McClure and Brett Sampiere (Solana Beach/Torrey Pines HS) ... Canale and Sampiere earned All-CCAA honorable mention a year ago ... Among 27 players on the 2014 roster are 15 returners and 12 newcomers ... Joining Bauman, Canale and McClure in the senior class are A.J. Beloff, Jacob Valadez and Nick Roberts ... Besides Sampiere, the only other San Diego products are freshman winger Zachary Lagotta (Cathedral Catholic HS) and junior goalkeeper Dean Meltz (Torrey Pines HS).

HEAD COACH JON PASCALE
Jon Pascale, now a two-time CCAA Coach of the Year through back-to-back honors in 2012 and 2013, has posted a 67-40-23 (.604) overall record in his seventh season in charge of the UCSD men's soccer program. He is 50-34-19 (.578) in arguably the toughest NCAA Division II conference in the nation, the CCAA. 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 of last year in Turlock, a come-from-behind, 2-1 overtime triumph 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. The 2-0 home decision over Cal State East Bay on Oct. 12 meant CCAA win No. 50 for Pascale, who coached his 100th CCAA tilt at CSUMB on Oct. 17.

ABOUT THE TOROS
Cal State Dominguez Hills is 8-7-2 overall and 6-3-1 in the CCAA. The Toros are just three points ahead of UCSD, alone in third in the league standings, and have secured a first-round home match to begin the 2014 CCAA Championship. CSUDH has rallied nicely from a 1-4-1 start to the campaign. The Toros come in off of a 2-1 loss in double overtime at Cal State Stanislaus last Sunday, when they finished the match with nine men following a pair of red-card ejections. They previously drew 1-1 at Cal State East Bay on Friday night. Head coach Joe Flanagan is in his 21st season in charge of the men's program at his alma mater. CSUDH is just 1-5-2 on the road in 2014.

SERIES HISTORY
Cal State Dominguez Hills leads the all-time series, 16-4-6. Both meetings in 2013 ended in 1-1 draws. The teams split their two match-ups in 2012, with the Tritons taking a 1-0 decision in La Jolla in late September, and the Toros producing a 3-0 victory in Carson in mid-October. The three goals surrendered was a season high for UCSD, having allowed just eight that whole year and accounting for half of the six scored against them in league matches. UCSD is 1-3-2 against CSUDH in La Jolla under head coach Jon Pascale.

NEW YEAR, NEW FORMAT IN CCAA
The CCAA has made changes to its regular-season and tournament formats in men's and women's soccer for the 2014 season. The six-team, two-division alignment is no more, now with just one 12-team league table. Rather than a 16-game regular-season schedule with two matches against divisional opponents and one against out-of-division foes, each team faces one another once, for a total of 11 CCAA contests. The top six teams in the final standings advance to the CCAA Championship, up from four in prior years. The first- and second-place finishers get first-round byes, with those two games held at campus sites of the higher seeds. The venue for the 2014 CCAA Championship semifinals and final has been announced as Warrior Stadium on the campus of Cal State Stanislaus in Turlock for the second year in a row and the fifth time in the last six years.

GEAR HERE
UCSD Athletics has partnered with Advanced-Online to provide a web-based, on-demand option for UCSD apparel and merchandise. Fans have access to over 600 products that can be processed and shipped within 24 hours. Visit the site at UCSDTritonsGear.com.

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UP NEXT
Regardless of the result of Thursday's home match with Cal State Dominguez Hills, UCSD will make a second successive appearance in the CCAA Championship this Sunday, Nov. 2, in a first-round tilt. The opponent, time and venue are to be determined.

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