THIS WEEK…
MATCH 2: UC Davis (0-0-1) at Pacific (1-1)
Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016
7:00 p.m.
Stockton, Calif.
Knoles Field
Game Coverage: Live Stats | Live Video | UC Davis Notes | Pacific Men's Soccer

MATCH 3: UC Davis (0-0-1) at San Francisco (0-1)
Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016
7:00 p.m.
San Francisco, Calif.
Negoesco Stadium
Game Coverage: Live Stats | Live Video | San Francisco Men's Soccer

OPENING WHISTLE: Following a scoreless draw in the season opener, the UC Davis men's soccer team (0-0-1 overall) opens a rather lengthy road swing this week with a pair of "local" contests at Pacific (Sept. 1) and San Francisco (Sept. 4). Both matches are scheduled to kick-off at 7 p.m. at their respective sites.

IN THE POLLS: Neither UC Davis, Pacific, nor San Francisco, are ranked nationally entering this week's opener.

BE A FOLLOWER: Fans can keep up with the latest in UC Davis athletics by following us on Facebook (/ucdavisaggies) and Twitter (@UCDavisAggies), while the men's soccer program is available on Twitter (@UCDavisMSOC). Live in-game updates for home contests are also available on Twitter by following us @UCDavisInGame.

I NEED STATS, STAT!: Barring technical difficulties, live stats for all UC Davis home matches, as well as select road contests, are available on your computer and mobile devices courtest the StatBroadcast platform. Visit the men's soccer schedule page at UCDavisAggies.com or the UC Davis StatBroadcast landing page at UCDavisLiveStats.com to access the links.

PACIFIC BRIEFLY: The Tigers enter the week at 1-1 overall on the season after posting a 3-1 home win over Drake on Aug. 26, and falling to San Jose State, 3-2, on the road two days later... Pacific opened with a pair of exhibition wins over CSU Bakersfield (2-0) and Sonoma State (1-0)... Sophomore forward John Rico-Contreres leads the team in scoring with a pair of goals on three shots... Junior goalkeeper Curtis Goldsmith has started both matches, posting a 1.59 goals against average and three saves in 170 minutes of work.

VERSUS THE TIGERS: Thursday marks only the second meeting between UC Davis and Pacific since the latter reinstated its progam in time for the 2014 season... The Aggies posted a 6-0 win over the Tigers last season at Aggie Soccer Field behind six different goal scorers.

SAN FRANCISCO BRIEFLY: The Dons enter the week at 0-1 overall after falling to Omaha (3-1) and having their match at Creighton cancelled due to weather... USF plays at CSU Bakersfield on Thursday (Sept. 1) before hosting the Aggies... Junior Bryce Kaminski has the only goal scored by the Dons this season, while senior Ryan Buckingham posted five saves while facing 11 shots against the Mavericks.

VERSUS THE DONS: UC Davis leads the all-time series with USF, 2-1-2, dating back to 1990, having gone unbeaten in the last four following a 2-1 road loss in 2004... The Aggies posted a 3-1 win over the Dons last season at home and are 2-0 against USF on their home field... UC Davis and San Francisco battled to a scoreless draw in the last match played at Negoesco Stadium on Sept. 26, 2014.

LAST TIME OUT - UC DAVIS 0:0 SAN JOSE STATE: The Aggies finished with a 16-10 shot advantage and twice rang the woodwork to thwart a pair of scoring opportunities, as UC Davis and San Jose State battled to a scoreless draw. Matt Baringer (3rd minute) and Noah Wilson (84th) hit the post and crossbar, respectively, but neither team could find the back of the net.

WEEKLY HONORS FOR BOATENG: Spearheading a defense that held the Spartans to just one shot on goal, sophomore Roy Boateng was named the Big West Conference Defensive Player of the Week on Aug. 29 for the first time in his career. Boateng became the first UC Davis weekly honoree since Lucas Mohageg (offensive) and Brian Ford (defensive) swept the weekly awards on Oct. 20, 2014.

MINUTE MAN: Boateng was one of three Aggies on the field to play all 110 minutes against San Jose State in the season opener, joined by fellow defenseman Dashiell MacNamara and goalkeeper Armando Quezada. It continues a run for the Rohnert Park, Calif., native, who has played every minute for the Aggies since coming off the bench and playing 13 minutes in the 2015 season opener against Seattle -- a total of 2015:12 entering this week's contests.

WELCOME TO THE WCC?: The Aggies may be able to apply for membership in the West Coast Conference this season as they will face six of the league's eight men's soccer playing members -- missing only Gonzaga and Santa Clara -- beginning with this week's matches against Pacific and San Francisco. According to records that date back to 1990, UC Davis is a combined 8-11-7 overall against WCC opponents, but is unbeaten (3-0-5) in its last eight against league members dating back to a 1-0 loss at San Diego on Sept. 20, 2013.

ROAD LESS TRAVELED: As the Aggies prepare to make the two-hour jaunt to Stockton on Thursday, UC Davis opens a run of five straight contests away from the friendly confines of Aggie Soccer Field -- its longest stretch since a five-match trip from Sept. 17-Oct. 2 in 2010. That stretch, however, included a pair of neutral site matches between two tournaments, as this year's five consecutive true road matches will be the program's longest such run away from home since Sept. 9-22 during the 2000 season.

ROAD WEARY: Speaking of away contests, the Aggies will be looking to snap a seven-match winless streak (0-5-2) in road openers on Thursday at Pacific, having not won a true away opener since a 2-1 double overtime triumph at San Diego on Sept. 19, 2008. During that span, UC Davis did win a neutral site contest against Michigan State at a tournament in New Mexico two weeks earlier, but the victory over the Toreros gave the Aggies their first road win of the year.

NO GOALS FOR YOU... OR YOU: The Aggies' scoreless draw in the season opener marked the 11th such result in the program's Division I history, and the first since UC Davis and Cal Poly did so on Oct. 28, 2015 -- which also marks the anniversary Aggies' last shutout during the regular season.

OH NO, NOT OT: In what has, seemingly, become a regular occurance, better than half of UC Davis' 42 matches over the last two-plus seasons have gone past the regulation 90 minutes, as the Aggies have played 23 overtime contests in that span -- with 18 of those 23 going to double overtime -- posting a 6-4-13 mark in those matches. The nine draws by UC Davis during the 2014 season tied an NCAA single-season record (and set a Big West single-season record) at the time, while the 14 overtime contests overall that same season were a new NCAA record.

BIG WEST PRESEASON POLL: UC Davis was picked to finish third overall in the Big West Conference's North Division and finished sixth overall as league office released the preseason coaches poll on Aug. 17. The Aggies received 18 points to finish just one point back of second-place Cal Poly in the North, while UC Santa Barbara recevied all eight first-place votes to finish atop the division. Two-time defending conference tournament champion Cal State Fullerton recevied seven of the eight first-place votes and was picked to win the South Division with 31 points, standing ahead of UC Irvine (one first-place vote) and CSUN, which tied for second with 20 points. Sacramento State (11 points) in the North, and UC Riverside (nine points) in the South, were picked to finish fourth in their respective divisions.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE AGGIES: UC Davis returns 17 letter winners -- including six starters -- and 20 players overall off of last season's roster as the Aggies look to improve on an 8-10-3 overall record and a 3-4-3 mark (third in the North Division) in Big West play. UC Davis has lost three of its top four scorers, bringing back just over half of its 29 goals. Sophomore defender Roy Boateng, who was an All-Big West honorable mention and all-freshman team selection a season ago, is the leading returning scorer after netting four goals and an assist, while starting 20 of the team's 21 matches on the back line. Junior winger Evan Barrett also returns after scoring twice and assisting on three other goals. In goal, Armando Quezada is the senior incumbent after posting a 1.42 goals against average and 27 saves in nine matches.

BY THE NUMBERS: UC Davis returns just 15 of its 29 goals (52%) spread out among 11 returning goal scorers, 15 of its 26 assists (58%), 167 of its 293 shots (57%), and 27 of its 75 (36%) saves, from a season ago. What does it all mean? We don't know, but numbers are fun.

OUR HOUSE: The Aggies defended their home turf well last season, finishing 5-2-2 overall at the Aggie Soccer Field and posting their sixth-straight winning season at home. UC Davis has posted a winning record on its home pitch in eight of their nine Division I seasons, including an unbeaten 7-0-3 mark in 2008 en route to an NCAA Tournament berth. Overall, the Aggies are a combined 99-47-21 (.656) at home in 19-plus seasons under Head Coach Dwayne Shaffer, and haven't suffered a losing campaign at home since 2009 (3-4) -- the ONLY losing season at home under Shaffer's direction.

STATE OF THE AGGIES: The 2016 UC Davis roster will feature a majority of Californians, but four Aggies on this year's roster hail from outside the "Golden State," the most in the program's Division I Era since the 2011 and 2012 squads had the same number. Freshman goalkeeper Wallis Lapsley (Washington), junior transfer Chase Rhode (North Carolina), and Montana natives Kyle Higgins and Adam Mickelson, each represent the first Aggies from those states since the program made the jump to Division I in 2007. Other out-of-state Aggies include: Arizona's Ian Palmer, Oregon's Matt Sheldon, Colorado's Lance Patterson, and imports Kirk Kappelhoff (Australia) and Riley Newport (British Columbia).

SHAFFER'S MARCH TO 200: Now in his 20th season at the helm of the Aggie program, UC Davis Head Coach Dwayne Shaffer enters the 2016 campaign just 11 wins shy No. 200 for his Division I coaching career, carrying a 189-156-48 record in 20 seasons -- 182 of those coming in his 19 years at UC Davis -- when you include his one year at Dayton. Overall, Shaffer has accumulated a total of 241 wins as a head coach at UC Davis (19 years), Dayton (one year), and Santa Rosa Junior College (four years).

THE BEST OFFENSE IS A GOOD DEFENDER: After finishing his first season third on the team in scoring with four goals and nine points overall, sophomore All-Big West defender Roy Boateng looks to continue a recent trend that has seen an Aggie defensive player also show well on the offensive side of the ball. The leading returning scorer for UC Davis in 2016, Boateng looks to build off the work of former back line mate Lucas Mohageg, who shared the team lead in scoring in 2014 (four goals, 10 points) and paced the 2015 squad (seven goals, 18 points) last year.

HORD "COMES HOME": Former UC Davis standout Elliott Hord agreed to terms with the Sacramento Republic FC for the remainder of the 2016 USL season, the club announced on Aug. 19. Hord, who signed a contract last year with third-division Swedish side Yxhults IK, appeared in 10 matches for the Fresno Fuego in the USL's Premier Development League this season before joining the Republic, recording an assist in 900 minutes of play. A four-year letter winner for the Aggies from 2010-13, Hord appeared in 67 career matches for UC Davis, making 25 starts and finishing with a goal and an assist on 28 shots.

AGGIE FUTBOL FUN FACTS
• UC Davis has qualified for the Big West Tournament in each of the last five years -- the only league member to accomplish that feat...

• The 14 different goal scorers last season were the most since the 1999 Aggie squad finished with 16 players finding the back of the net...

• The 29 goals scored last season as a team finished third in the Big West -- surpassing the team's total from each of the two previous years and ranks third on the single-season chart in the program's Division I Era...

• UC Davis is 9-5-2 (.625) against the Big West South since the league began divisional play in 2012 -- posting the second-highest win total and the second-best winning percentage in the conference (UC Santa Barbara, .813)...

• Since their league debut in 2007, the Aggies have posted 42 Big West victories -- tied with Cal Poly for second among league members behind only perennial power UC Santa Barbara (59).