Sept. 23, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
THIS WEEK
Thursday, Sept. 25 - Sacramento State, 4:00 p.m. (Hornet Field)
Saturday, Sept. 27 - Air Force, 1:00 p.m. (Aggie Soccer Stadium)
LAST WEEK
Friday, Sept. 19 - San Diego, W, 2-1
Sunday, Sept. 21 - San Diego State, W, 2-1
RECAP
The UC Davis men's soccer team went 2-0 at the USD/SDSU Tournament last weekend to run its winning streak to four games... The Aggies scored identical 2-1 victories over co-hosts San Diego and San Diego State... Senior team captain Dylan Curtis scored the game-winning goal on Friday and assisted the game winner on Sunday to earn Big West Conference Co-Player of the Week honors... In addition, the Aggies jumped up to No. 21 in both College Soccer News and National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) national polls and entered the Soccer Times poll at No. 23.
The Aggies opened the weekend against San Diego on Friday with an early goal by Quincy Amarikwa, but gave up an own goal minutes later and eventually were pushed into overtime... During the 104th minute of the game, Curtis was dragged down in the box and given a penalty kick... He converted the shot to send UC Davis to a 2-1 victory.
On Sunday, the Aggies opened up a quick 1-0 lead over San Diego State behind a goal from senior Sule Anibaba in the fifth minute... Curtis supplied the assist... Amarikwa made it 2-0 as he converted another Curtis pass in the 65th minute... Sophomore goalkeeper Ryan McCowan tied a career high with seven saves to help secure the win... Anibaba, Amarikwa and Curtis were all named to the all-tournament team for their efforts... Curtis continues to rank first nationally in assists per game with 1.14, while Amarikwa is fourth nationally with a goals per game average of 1.00.
UPCOMING OPPONENTS
UC Davis plays an away-home schedule during its final week of non-conference competition... The Aggies renew their Causeway Cup rivalry with Sacramento State on Thursday with a 4 p.m. game at Hornet Field... They return home to Aggie Soccer Stadium for the first time in three games on Saturday with a 1 p.m. match against Air Force.
UC Davis has won the last two meetings with the Hornets and owns victories in three of the last four Causeway games... The Hornets pulled off a 2-0 win during the 2005 season... The two teams enter Thursday's game with the best combined record (11-2-1) since the 1991 season... The Hornets (5-1-1) suffered their first loss of the season last weekend to Big West member Cal State Northridge... The Matadors got a late goal to earn a 2-1 victory... The Hornets tied No. 23 UC Irvine, 1-1, in their only other match with a Big West team... They host Cal Poly over the weekend.
Air Force enters the weekend at 2-5-0 but is riding a two-game winning streak after picking up wins over rivals Navy, 1-0, and Army, 2-1, last weekend... The Falcons have also played Big West members UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly and Cal State Fullerton... They gave up two goals in each of those matches... The Aggies and Falcons last met during the 2005 season at Cadet Soccer Stadium in Colorado... Senior Ian Conklin (playing in his freshman season) scored the lone Aggie goal in a 1-1 tie.
HEAD COACH Dwayne Shaffer
On Superb Play: "Quincy (Amarikwa), Dylan (Curtis) and Sule (Anibaba) have been outstanding all season. Sule did not go through the preseason training because of an injury and he's just now rounding into shape. Sule has just been physically dominate. Quincy has matured into an outstanding soccer player. Dylan is just physically gifted and is really deceptive in his moves. We've also got some great performances from our defenders in the process. Jordan Vanderpoorten, Nate Jarman and Chris Beville have all played very well in the backfield."
On Last Weekend: "San Diego's record is not indicative of how good they are. Their coach had them ready to play. They played with the most intensity of any team we've played this year. We were just better than them on that night. We had our chances and just didn't break through. Luckily we were able to convert an penalty kick to finally earn the win. Against San Diego State, we started out well and it was a really good game. In the second half we started to fatigue a little bit and were hit with some injuries to three quality players. Our energy level wasn't as high as it needed to be. Ryan (McCowan) made some nice saves and we played good defense to win the game."
On Upcoming Week: "It's a great rivalry we have with Sac State. The records and rankings all go out the window when UC Davis and Sac State play in any event. We'll be at their facility and I expect a really rowdy crowd. I'm expecting another great battle. Air Force will also be a great test for us and it will be nice to get home and play in front of an Aggie Pack crowd."
