THE SCHEDULE
Match 9
vs. Sonoma State (3-2-3, 3-1 CCAA)
Friday, Sept. 30 • 4:30 p.m.
Triton Soccer Stadium • La Jolla
Live Video • Live Stats
Match 10
vs. Humboldt State (3-4-1, 1-3 CCAA)
Sunday, Oct. 2 • 11:30 a.m.
Triton Soccer Stadium • La Jolla
Live Video • Live Stats
UC SAN DIEGO PUTS PERFECT HOME RECORD UP AGAINST VISITING PAIR
The University of California San Diego men's soccer team continues California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) play with two more home matches this week. UC San Diego (6-1-1, 1-1 CCAA) hosts Sonoma State (3-2-3, 3-1 CCAA) on Friday, Sept. 30, at 4:30 p.m. The Tritons then await the visit of Humboldt State (3-4-1, 1-3 CCAA) on Sunday, Oct. 2, at 11:30 a.m. Both contests serve to lead off doubleheaders with the No. 8 UCSD women at Triton Soccer Stadium. UCSD is a perfect 6-0 in La Jolla thus far in 2016. The end of Friday's match will signal the exact midway point of its regular-season schedule.
TRITON SOCCER MATCHDAY
Once again in 2016, all regular-season home matches at Triton Soccer Stadium are free to attend. Parking permits are required, however, on weeknights on the UC San Diego 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 adjacent to RIMAC. Parking is free on Saturday and Sunday.
TRITON SOCCER NOW ON UCSDTRITONS.TV!
For the very first time, all matches at Triton Soccer Stadium in 2016 feature a live video stream on UCSDtritons.tv. The platform, the product of a partnership between UC San Diego Athletics and local broadband services and technology giant ViaSat, is in its first full year. All broadcasts are in multi-camera high definition, and can be viewed from smartphones and tablets alongside desktop and laptop computers. UC San Diego alum and former baseball pitcher (2007-08) Tim Strombel (@Timmy2Sides) will primarily handle the play-by-play duties, with local personality Taylor Quellman (@TJQuellman) filling in, and an array of guests. Viewing is subscription-based, though it is free from UCSD campus IP addresses. A package that gives viewers access to all streamed events (baseball, basketball, soccer, softball, volleyball, water polo and more) throughout the 2016-17 academic year is available for $34.99. A single-day option can be purchased for $5.99, meaning doubleheaders are two-for-one. Events are archived.
MORE LIVE COVERAGE
All games have live stats. Select road matches will also have video and/or audio. Fans can access live coverage from the Schedule/Results page, or by clicking on the links above. Starting lineups, live in-game updates and other news and notes can be found by following Triton Soccer all season long on the UCSD Athletics Twitter handle (@UCSDtritons). Finally, check out the CCAA live scoreboard here to keep up on results around the league.
FREE TRITON GAMEDAY T-SHIRTS FRIDAY!
The first 1000 UC San Diego students arriving at the doubleheader with Sonoma State this Friday, Sept. 30, and able to show that they are following UCSD Athletics on at least one of our social media platforms (UCSDtritons on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter), will receive their bright yellow Triton gameday t-shirt featuring the new All For One slogan, for free. The promotion is sponsored by Toyota Dealers of San Diego.
FREE POSTERS!
Free posters of the 2016 UC San Diego fall sports will be available at Triton Soccer Stadium during this Friday and Sunday's doubleheaders. They can also be found at the kiosk inside the main RIMAC entrance.
RANKINGS REPORT
UC San Diego made its first appearance of 2016 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) poll at No. 21 on Sept. 20. The Tritons fell out of Tuesday's latest listing, however, after a 1-1 split last week, but are still receiving votes just outside of the top 25. They moved down one spot from third to fourth in the West. The No. 21 position marked UCSD's first national ranking since it appeared at No. 9 in the 2014 preseason edition on Aug. 7.
A LOOK BACK AT LAST WEEK
UC San Diego split the first week of league play, surrendering an unlucky second-half goal to fall 1-0 at cross-county foe Cal State San Marcos on Wednesday, before blanking rival Chico State, 2-0, in a return home on Sunday afternoon. Senior Sam Palano scored once in each half to get the result, with Cameron McElfresh making three saves in goal for the clean sheet. Junior striker Uly de la Cal assisted on the game-winning opener, just seconds after entering the game.
NOTABLE START
UC San Diego is off to its best eight-game start in terms of overall winning percentage (6-1-1, .8125), in its NCAA Division II history, since 2000. The Tritons were previously 6-1-1 twice under ninth-year head coach Jon Pascale, in 2013 and 2008, his first in charge. They also went 6-1-1 to begin the 2005 and 2006 campaigns, after a 5-0-3 mark in 2004 for an identical percentage.
HOME DOMINANCE UNDER PASCALE
UC San Diego is a perfect 6-0 at Triton Soccer Stadium in 2016, with four more regular-season home dates left. The Tritons went 5-1-2 inside the friendly confines in 2015. Under head coach Jon Pascale over eight-plus years, the Tritons are 52-20-14 (.686) in La Jolla. They are an unbeaten 8-0-1 in their last nine at Triton Soccer Stadium, since a 2-1 loss to Stanislaus State on Sept. 27, 2015. UCSD has thus officially not lost at home in a full calendar year.
McELFRESH BESTS COHEN MARK
On Sunday against Chico State, Cameron McElfresh posted his fourth individual shutout of 2016 and 23rd of his five-year UCSD career, breaking former All-American teammate Josh Cohen's program record for the NCAA Division II era, since 2000. He had matched it with a clean sheet at Concordia on Sept. 17. The school standard is held by UCSD Athletics Hall of Famer Brian Siljander (1987-90), at 37. Michael Madden (1991-93) is second with 29. McElfresh leads the league and the West Region, and is fifth nationally, with his goals-against average of .379.
#PALANOPOWER
The Sept. 1 season opener versus Azusa Pacific meant the first time in the four-year college careers of Nick Palano and Sam Palano that the identical twin brothers combined on a goal, and was also the first time they both scored in the same match. Sam now leads the team with four goals following his first collegiate brace against rival Chico State on Sept. 25. He also paces the Tritons in total points, with 11 from the four goals and three assists. The twins have accounted for three of UCSD's six game-winning tallies. Sam in fact has produced the team's last three goals going back to the 6-0 defeat of Saint Martin's on Sept. 10, with no other Triton having found the net over the last 387:28.
YOU WANT MORE OFFENSE? HERE'S MORE OFFENSE
UC San Diego managed just 15 goals in 18 contests a year ago. The Tritons have 14 so far in 2016 through eight matches. They scored a pair in each of their first two matches, having not produced multiple scores in back-to-back games even once in 2015. UCSD then struck for six on Sept. 10 against Saint Martin's, achieving its first 6-0 scoreline since another such home defeat, that one over Cal State East Bay, in the 2010 finale (Oct. 31). Five of those goals came before the break, marking the first period of play for the Tritons with five goals, since the second frame of that East Bay matchup.
RETURN TO PREMIER DEFENSE
UCSD has allowed just three goals over 758:19, for a goals-against average of 0.36, tops in the CCAA and West Region, and fifth in the NCAA Division II. Only two have come from the run of play, the other a free-kick strike by Azusa Pacific. The team's longest shutout stretch of the year has been 513:54 through four-plus successive clean sheets. The Tritons boasted one of the top seven defenses nationally in Division II in terms of team GAA for three straight seasons between 2012-14, but fell back to the 48th spot a year ago (1.09). They 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).
BASHTI'S BACK
After missing the entire 2015 season through injury, redshirt junior striker Malek Bashti has made a big impact in his return. He leads the CCAA and is tied for first in the West Region and 13th nationally with his five assists, despite having appeared in just five of eight contests. Bashti entered the year with one career helper.
RALLY TRITONS
UCSD posted a pair of come-from-behind 2-1 wins at home courtesy of late goals after facing 1-0 deficits to begin the year. Sam Palano volleyed in the 68th-minute equalizer and turned provider for twin brother Nick Palano with just 1:41 left in the second overtime to down West Region rival Azusa Pacific on Sept. 1. Then it was Riley Harbour's hero turn on Sept. 3 against Westmont, as he slotted home his first of the year in the 79th minute, after Uly de la Cal had tied the match late in the first half.
OVERTIME STREAK OVER
The double-overtime triumph over Azusa Pacific on Sept. 1 marked UCSD's first overtime win since Malek Bashti's first collegiate goal took down rival Chico State in the 2013 CCAA semifinals in Turlock. The Tritons went 0-1-12 in overtime contests in 2014 and 2015, with 12 straight draws since, ironically, a 1-0 double-overtime loss to APU in La Jolla on Sept. 20, 2014.
TRITON NOTES
UC San Diego is 9-6-2 in CCAA openers after a 1-0 loss at CSUSM on Sept. 21, which snapped a string of two straight wins ... UCSD is 12-3-2 in season openers in its NCAA Division II era, since 2000, following the Sept. 1 defeat of Azusa Pacific, 2-1, with the Tritons an unbeaten 3-0-1 over their last four ... UCSD was picked fifth in the CCAA preseason coaches' poll, with reigning West Region champion CPP the favorite.
2016 SEASON OUTLOOK
UC San Diego had no seniors on its 2015 roster, but has eight in 2016. The Tritons welcome back the core of their defense in redshirt seniors Cameron McElfresh in goal and Brett Sampiere and Kuba Waligorski on the back line alongside junior Kyle Panganiban. Waligorski is a two-time All-CCAA Second Team pick, with McElfresh gaining All-CCAA honorable mentions for each of the past two years without missing a single minute between the posts. Sampiere, making a permanent return to his natural spot at right back, earned All-CCAA honorable mentions in 2013 and 2015. Nolan Mac and Jeff Powers were in the lineup at times and will vie for minutes.
The offensive production should be boosted by the return of Malek Bashti after missing the entirety of 2015 through injury. Junior Uly de la Cal tied for the team high in total points from two goals and three assists a year ago. Senior Riley Harbour, one of two Tritons he shared that designation with, is back in central midfield, as are Justice Duerksen, Zachary Lagotta and Nick Palano among numerous wing options. Lagotta was All-CCAA honorable mention as a sophomore in 2015. Forward Sam Palano joins his identical twin brother as a fourth-year senior who will be counted on.
2015 REWIND
UC San Diego is coming off of three successive postseason appearances in the form of the CCAA Tournament, with NCAA Championship berths in 2013 and 2014. The Tritons went 6-6-6 in 2015, breaking a string of five straight years with an overall winning percentage of greater than .500 under head coach Jon Pascale. UCSD lost just one of its last seven regular-season contests, and was 5-3-4 in league play.
ROSTER NOTES
Among 29 players on the 2016 roster are 23 returners, just six newcomers, and eight seniors. There are four San Diego products, in redshirt senior right back Brett Sampiere (Solana Beach/Torrey Pines HS), junior winger Zachary Lagotta (Cathedral Catholic HS), sophomore forward Nathaniel Bloom (Encinitas/San Dieguito HS Academy) and redshirt freshman midfielder Daniel Boemer (San Diego/Scripps Ranch HS).
CCAA FORMAT UNCHANGED
For the third year in a row, the CCAA slate consists of a single round robin, with every team facing off once against one another for 12 matches total, and the top six sides (based on most points; three for a league win, one for a tie) in the final regular-season standings qualifying for the 2016 CCAA Tournament. Cal State San Marcos, a new addition in 2015, is ineligible again this time around. First-round matchups will take place on the campuses of the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds on Tuesday, Nov. 1. The semifinals and final will be hosted by Stanislaus State for the sixth time in the last eight years, at Warrior Stadium in Turlock, Nov. 4-6.
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 an 80-47-32 (.604) overall record in his ninth season in charge of the UC San Diego men's soccer program. He is 57-38-23 (.581) in arguably the toughest NCAA Division II conference in the nation, the CCAA. Pascale has guided the Tritons to six straight campaigns with an overall record of .500 or better, and six winning seasons out of his eight. They are coming off of three successive berths in the CCAA Tournament, with trips to the NCAA Championship in 2013 and 2014. A 1-0 home victory over Sonoma State on Sept. 29, 2013, gave him career win No. 50, while a 2-0 triumph at Stanislaus State 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 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 SEAWOLVES
Sonoma State (3-2-3, 3-1 CCAA) is coming off of a solid road weekend in which it scored seven times in beating Cal State East Bay, 3-1, and Stanislaus State, 4-0. The Seawolves had managed just four goals over their first six games. They snapped a season-opening four-game winless streak by upsetting then-23rd-ranked reigning West Region champion Cal Poly Pomona, 2-1, at home to begin the CCAA slate on Sept. 16. Sonoma State, picked fourth in the preseason poll just ahead of UCSD, is 2-1-1 away from home in 2016. Marcus Ziemer is in his 26th season at the helm of his alma mater.
SERIES HISTORY
Sonoma State leads the all-time series, 12-4-2. The Tritons had, however, taken three straight, including a 1-0 decision in La Jolla in 2013, before a 1-1 deadlock in 2014 and a 3-0 loss a year ago, both in Rohnert Park. They won 2-0 at Sonoma State in 2012, marking just their second-ever victory there. UCSD was also the 2-1 victor in double overtime in La Jolla in 2011.
ABOUT THE LUMBERJACKS
Humboldt State (3-4-1, 1-3 CCAA) was picked last in the preseason poll, which is where the Lumberjacks finished the 2015 campaign with an 0-10-2 mark. They got back in the win column in league play with a 3-2 triumph at Stanislaus State last Friday, Sept. 23, snapping a 21-game winless run in the CCAA. HSU plays at CSUSM Friday afternoon at 3 p.m., before Sunday's visit to La Jolla. Fred Jungemann is in his fourth season in charge of the Jacks after spending the previous six years at Barry University in Florida.
SERIES HISTORY
UCSD has never lost to Humboldt State, leading the all-time series, 4-0-6, including dramatic 2-2 draws in Arcata in back-to-back years. In 2014, Kuba Waligorski and Uly de la Cal each notched equalizers over the final nine minutes of regulation, de la Cal's first collegiate goal coming with just 37 ticks left on the clock. Both scores were assisted by Riley Harbour and Brandon Bauman. The Tritons won 2-0 in La Jolla in 2013. The teams did not meet in 2012. Previously, the Tritons edged the Jacks at home in 2011, 3-2, overturning a 2-1 halftime deficit. The prior matchup in Arcata ended in a 1-1 tie in 2010. UCSD is an unbeaten 3-0-1 against HSU in La Jolla under Jon Pascale.
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 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 (#AllForOne)
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UP NEXT
The Tritons head north to the Bay Area next week, playing at SF State on Friday, Oct. 7, at 3 p.m., and Cal State Monterey Bay on Sunday, Oct. 9, at 2 p.m.
#AllForOne
