Fresno State Athletics
Men's Soccer Prepares For Four-Match Homestand
10/23/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Oct. 23, 2000
FRESNO, Calif. -
`DOGS PREPARE FOR A FOUR-MATCH HOMESTAND
The Bulldogs will finish up the regular season with four matches at home. The first match will take place on Thursday, Oct. 26, at 7 p.m. versus non-conference foe UC Santa Barbara. Then on Sunday, Oct. 29, the men continue conference play versus Sacramento State at 3 p.m. The final two matches will be played on Friday, Nov. 3 against Denver and Nov. 5 versus Air Force.
SCOUTING REPORT: UC Santa Barbara (6-9-1, 1-3-1 MPSF-P)
As a member of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation-Pacific division, the Gauchos of UC Santa Barbara have posted a 2000 conference record of 1-3-1 and an overall record of 6-9-1. Under the guidance of second-year head coach Tim Vom Steeg, the Gauchos recorded the program's first winning season in 11 years with a 1999 overall record of 13-5-0. Vom Steeg came to UCSB after a seven-year stint with Santa Barbara City College and an impressive 121-18-4 record. He led the Vaqueros to four California State Junior College Final Fours and one California Junior College Championship. Within the seven seasons, Vom Steeg never finished with a losing record. This 2000 season with UCSB has not been as fortunate for the veteran coach. However, with a recent 1-1 tie against San Diego State on Sunday, Oct. 22, the Gauchos have an opportunity to finish at .500. If UCSB wins its last three matches, the first being Thursday's match here at Fresno State, and the final two away at both Cal Poly and CS Northridge, a redeemable season may be in the works. Fresno State holds a winning record versus the Gauchos. In 29 meetings the `Dogs are 14-11-4.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
UC Santa Barbara is fortunate to have two top forwards in senior Thiago Martins and junior Jaime Ambriz. In the Gauchos' recent tie-match versus San Diego State, Martins scored the tying goal on a penalty kick. The strategically placed ball provided Martins with his fifth goal and 12 points on the season. Martins is complemented by the play of teammate Ambriz. Ambriz leads the team in goals with six and ties Martins in points with 12. Freshman goalkeeper Erik Stolhandske has been holding down the defensive end of the pitch with over 1000 minutes played in 12 matches and posts a goals-against average of 1.02. He has made fifty saves while allowing 12 goals. In the recent tie with San Diego State, Stolhandske posted five saves.
SCOUTING REPORT: Sacramento State (5-9-1, 0-5-0 MPSF-M)
Sacramento will enter Bulldog stadium looking for redemption. In the first meeting between the two teams on Sunday, Oct. 15, the `Dogs left Hornet field with a 2-0 shutout win. The two goals were scored by junior midfielder Noah Delgado (Fremont, Calif.). Fresno State has history on its side as well. The Hornets have never beaten the Bulldogs in any of the 10 matches. Fresno State holds an all-time record of 9-0-1 versus the fellow MPSF-M member. The `Dogs also have only allowed 21 goals compared to the 31 of Sacramento. On the flip-side, the `Dogs have netted 22 goals versus the 16 of Sacramento State. Recently the Hornets put an end to their six-match losing streak by defeating non-conference foe Cal Poly in overtime with a score of 1-0. The win was the first since their 3-2 overtime victory over Cal State Northridge on Friday, Sept. 29.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Leading the way for the Hornets is junior forward Sean Luigs. Luigs has scored four goals and tallied one assist for Sacramento this season. Two of the goals were game-winning. He also leads the team in points with nine. Last season Luigs finished third on the team in scoring (eight points) and was recognized as MPSF Player of the Week after scoring both goals in a 2-1 victory over San Francisco. Following closely is junior midfielder Danny Gehm. Gehm has managed three goals this season, giving him a total of six points for the season thus far. Two other Hornets have aided in the scoring effort. Freshman forward David Fraser and sophomore defender Hjalti Kristjansson have recorded two goals a piece. Fraser also adds three assists, giving him a total of seven points. The team evenly splits net time between three goalkeepers. Junior Chris Haustein has inked the most time and has recorded the most saves with 32. In addition he has the lowest goals-against average with 1.29.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Bulldogs look to end the season with a 12-5-1 overall record. The team must defeat their next four opponents in order to accomplish such a feat. After this week's matches versus UCSB and Sacramento, the team faces two final conference match-ups. On Friday, Nov. 3, the `Dogs will try to avenge an earlier 2-1 loss versus Denver. The final match of the year will be played on Sunday, Nov. 5, as the men look to reverse their recent misfortune when they hit the pitch versus the Air Force. The `Dogs lost 2-0 to the Falcons on a winter-like day, Friday, Oct. 6.
`DOGS FALL TO No. 1 SAN JOSE STATE 2-0
The Bulldogs were looking to improve on their recent 4-0 loss to the No. 1 Spartans of San Jose State this Sunday, Oct. 22. Unfortunately, the Spartans had other plans. Once again, San Jose State struck early into the match on a goal by senior defender Ryan Suarez with just under 11 minutes played. Suarez headed the ball into the bottom left corner to put the Spartans on the board. Seven minutes later the Spartans pushed another ball passed the `Dogs sophomore goalkeeper Jeremy Proud (Auburn, Wash.) to round out the scoring for the night. The Bulldogs held strong defensively for the remainder of the match by holding the No. 1 squad scoreless. Fresno State managed to get their momentum going in the second-half with three shots. One of them by sophomore forward Makoto Anderson (Fresno, Calif.) that went slightly wide. The Spartan's senior netminder Chris Humphreys recorded his 11th combined shutout of the season and finished with one save. Proud completed the match with four saves on six shots. Note: San Jose State is the only Division I school that has not lost a match.
COMMUNITY SERVICE
The Bulldogs are known for getting involved in the community. Within the month of October, the team will have taken part in numerous events. The team started out the month by hosting the Clovis Junior Soccer League tailgate party at their match versus Loyola Marymount on Sunday, Oct. 1. Then on Friday, Oct. 13, two team members and the coaching staff went to Ripperdan Elementary School for "Reader's Day". The `Dogs read to the classes and communicated the significance of literacy. On Thursday, Oct. 19, the team hosted a youth soccer clinic for girls and boys ages 6-12. More than 200 youth participated in the event. Finally, on Saturday, Oct. 21, the Bulldogs held an official practice and demonstration for the United Cerebral Palsy/McValley Cup at Buchanan High School from 8 to 10 a.m. The team signed autographs for those who attended.
2000 MPSF CHAMPIONSHIP
The MPSF Championship will be determined by a four-team postseason tournament at the home site of the Pacific Division champion. The MPSF Championship semifinal matches will ink the Mountain Division champion and the Pacific Division runner-up and the Pacific Division champion versus the Mountain Division runner-up on Friday, November 10. The MPSF Championship match will face-off the winners of the semifinal matches on Sunday, Nov. 12, at the home site of the Pacific Division champion. To learn more about MPSF soccer visit www.mpsports.org.
2000 NCAA COLLEGE CUP TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP
The NCAA Semifinals and Championship matches will take place Friday, Dec. 8 and Sunday, Dec. 10, at Ericsson Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. To learn more about the NCAA College Cup visit www.ncaasoccer.net.
