Nov. 4, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
THIS WEEK
Sat., Nov. 8 - No. 19 UC SANTA BARBARA, 11:00 a.m. (Aggie Soccer Stadium)
LAST WEEK
Sun., Nov. 2 - at Cal Poly, L, 2-0
RECAP
The UC Davis men's soccer team lost its only game of the week Sunday at Cal Poly, 2-0... The Mustangs become only the second team this season to shut out the Aggies... UC Davis hasn't been held scoreless since Sept. 5.
Kyle Montgomery scored a goal just 22 seconds into the contest, and Jacob Hustedt added another score in the 32nd minute to lead Cal Poly... Eric Branagan-Franco saved a game-high five shots, including Dylan Curtis' penalty kick in the 79th minute, to keep the Aggies scoreless... Senior Quincy Amarikwa got off two shots on goal and the Aggies outshot the Mustangs, 11-10... The win bumped the Mustangs to first place in the conference standings and dropped the Aggies to third... The top four teams in the standings advance to the conference championship tournament next weekend.
UC Davis dropped in all four major national polls for the first time... Their highest ranking is 11th by College Soccer News... They now stand No. 12 by Soccer Times, No. 15 by The National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) and No. 17 by Soccer America... In addition, the Aggies are now ranked fifth in the Far West Region by the NSCAA.
Individually, Amarikwa and Curtis continue to lead the conference in several categories... Amarikwa leads with 15 goals, 31 points, 0.88 goals per game and 1.92 points per game.. He ranks fourth nationally in goals per game... Curtis continues to lead the conference in assists (10) and assists per game (0.56) and is 7th nationally.
UPCOMING OPPONENT
No. 11 UC Davis closes out its regular season on Saturday by hosting No. 19 UC Santa Barbara.... Originally scheduled to begin at noon, the game has been moved up an hour to 11 a.m.... The Aggies will honor nine seniors before the start of the game.
UC Santa Barbara enters the week with an overall record of 10-5-2 and 5-2-1 in conference play... Their conference record puts them second in the standings heading into Wednesday's game against conference-leading and 25th-ranked Cal Poly... The Gauchos defeated the Mustangs when they met last month in San Luis Obispo, 1-0... Last week, UCSB defeated Cal State Northridge, 3-1, but lost to then-No. 20 UC Irvine, 3-1.... Senior Chris Pontius leads the Gauchos with 13 goals and ranks second behind Amarikwa in the conference in most scoring categories... Danny Barrera and Bryan Dominguez lead the team with five assists... Christopher Minton and Trond Helge Takset have shared time in goal during the season... Both have allowed 15 goals for a goals against average of 1.49 and 2.00, respectively.
UC Davis earned a 2-0 victory over the Gauchos when the teams last met in Santa Barbara... Quincy Amarikwa scored two goals in the contest to help lead the Aggies to victory... Amarikwa's second goal was a bicycle kick and helped earn him conference player of the week honors... Ryan McCowan became the first goalkeeper to earn a shutout over the Gauchos in 31 consecutive games.
Seniors Amarikwa, Dylan Curtis, Sule Anibaba, Jordan Vanderpoorten, Dan Campbell, Ahmad Hatifie, Jake Mogelson, Greg Hammond and Ian Conklin will all be honored before the start of Saturday's game.
HEAD COACH Dwayne Shaffer
On Last Weekend: "Going in we knew it was a big game for Cal Poly and us. It was a chance to stay on top of the Big West and qualify for the conference tournament. We had a great week of training leading up to the game. It was the first break we had in the season. Mentally and physically we were fresh and inspired all week long. Unfortunately, we had a bad opening 30 seconds. It changed the entire make-up of our team. It gave Cal Poly a lot of confidence and we were forced to chase the game for the remaining 89 and a half minutes. The first half was not good for us. We just didn't play well. We made some adjustments in the second half and I thought we played well. A majority of the second half was played in their penalty box. Our chances just didn't fall. We were disappointed and upset because we were prepared and ready to play."
On Conference Standings: "Right now there is a lot of soccer to be played on Wednesday. That will really determine what we have to do on Saturday. For our own frame of mind, we just need to play a great soccer game."
On UC Santa Barbara: "They're going to want some revenge for what we did to them at their place. They are also fighting for a spot in the conference championship tournament. They're aren't any guarantees. We just need to be mentally and physically prepared to play as hard as we can. It certainly will help us in our preparation that we've seen UCSB once already this season. We know their style of play. It's a big day for all our seniors and it's a big day for UC Davis soccer. The game is so meaningful. We have a great group of seniors that will be honored before the game."
