Davis, Calif. — The No. 5 ranked UC Davis Men's Soccer (5-8-4, 4-3-2 Big West) will be heading down South this week to play the No. 4 seeded CSUN Matadors (8-5-4, 5-3-1 Big West) in the first round of the Big West Men's Soccer Championships. The first round matchup is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 2 at 7:00 P.M.
GAME 18 (First Round of Big West Men's Soccer Championships)
Who: CSUN Matadors
Where: Northridge, Calif.
When: Wednesday, Nov. 2
Time: 7:00 P.M.
How to Watch: ESPN+
How to Follow: Live Stats
UC Davis Men's Soccer Twitter
UC Davis Men's Soccer Instagram
HOW WE GOT HERE AND HISTORY AT BIG WEST CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Aggies come into the Big West Men's Soccer Championship as the No. 5 seed after securing a 2-1 victory Saturday during the season finale against rival Sacramento State. This marks the 11th consecutive Big West Conference Tournament appearance for UC Davis Men's Soccer. In the one regular season matchup between the Matadors and Aggies on Oct. 8, UC Davis took the road victory 1-0 with help from a Ryan Dieter game-winning goal.
During the season finale that sent the Ags to the playoffs, goals from the experienced Max Glasser (9') and Ethan Hoard (27') proved to be more than enough to silence the 571 in attendance at Hornet Field.
UC Davis is familiar with their position as they were the No. 5 seed just a year ago and took down the Roadrunners from Bakersfield 3-1. The Aggies are also just two years removed from winning the Big West Tournament. They hold a 4-1-1 record all-time in first-round matches and will look to continue this trend as they have not lost a first round match since 2014.
UC Davis comes into this match holding an all-time record advantage of 12-8-5 against CSUN.
A LOOK AT CSUN
The Matadors are led by Jamar Ricketts who leads the Matadors with four goals, three of which are game-winning goals. The Matadors also have a formidable combo of David Diaz and Dylan Gonzalez who share the lead for assists on the team with three.
CSUN's last line of defense is keeper Cooper Wenzel who has played every minute for the Matadors and has 67 saves on the year while allowing 21 goals. Wenzel also has seven shutouts to his name.
A LOOK AT THE AGGIES
The Aggies are looking to ride the momentum from their season finale into the first round of postseason play. The Aggies are led by five different members of the team who each have two goals to their name. Among this group are the stars from the season finale; Max Glasser, and Ethan Hoard, as well as, Cason Goodman, Emmanuel Doherty, and Zack Lillington.
Leading UC Davis in assists during the regular season were Max Glasser and Ryan Dieter as each had three a piece, while Dieter picked up his third in the critical season finale.
Shoring up the backline for the Ags has been the freshman Luke Goodman who leads all Aggies in minutes, along with the goal-keeper for Davis, Charles Janssen. Charles has 38 saves to his name for the season, allowing just 15 goals.
