Cal State Northridge, UC Santa Barbara Set for Spanos Stadium Visit
10/11/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – Opening the week deadlocked in a three-way knot for second place in the Big West Conference standings, the Cal Poly men's soccer program completes a four-match home stand at Alex G. Spanos Stadium versus Cal State Northridge on Tuesday, Oct. 11 and UC Santa Barbara on Friday, Oct. 14. Both matches begin at 7 p.m. Cal Poly (5-4-2) and Cal State Northridge (5-5-1) enter play with identical conference records (2-1-0) and point totals (six) while defending conference tournament champion UC Santa Barbara (8-3-1, 1-2-0) languishes in fifth place on three points.
FOLLOW THE MUSTANGS: Dave Grant makes his GoPoly.com streaming play-by-play debut for Cal Poly's Friday showdown versus UC Santa Barbara. The pre-match show begins at 6:55 p.m. GameTracker for both of Cal Poly's contests this week is available via GoPoly.com.
CAL POLY-UC SANTA BARBARA SERIES A MASSIVE DRAW: Topping CollegeSoccerNews.com's list of the 14 Greatest Rivalries in College Soccer, the Cal Poly-UC Santa Barbara series has drawn seven of the top-21 regular season crowd figures in NCAA history with all matches occurring during the previous four-plus seasons. Since the start of the 2007 campaign, 65,477 total spectators and an average of 6,548 fans per match have witnessed Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara clash on 10 occasions. Last season alone, 8,125 fans packed Spanos Stadium to watch Cal Poly's 2-1 overtime upset of the then-No. 19 Gauchos on Oct. 27, 2010.
CAL POLY VERSUS CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE: The Matadors rank as the only Big West opponent a Paul Holocher-coached Cal Poly squad has never lost against with the Mustangs owning a 4-0-4 mark against the Matadors since 2006. Last season, the Matadors clawed back from a two-goal deficit to draw Cal Poly at Spanos Stadium, 2-2. Cal Poly won the away fixture, 2-0.
CAL POLY VERSUS UC SANTA BARBARA: The Gauchos hold a 7-2-3 series advantage against the Mustangs during sixth-year head coach Paul Holocher's tenure, but Cal Poly has successfully defended Spanos Stadium against the Gauchos. The Mustangs own a 2-1-1 mark in four previous matches at the complex and claimed upsets of the nationally-ranked Gauchos during the 2007 (2-1) and 2010 (2-1, overtime) campaigns.
RECORD-BREAKING OFFENSE: Cal Poly had notched just seven goals in 10 games this season before producing a 5-0 dismantling of UC Riverside (Oct. 9). The five-goal haul marked Cal Poly's highest output in 44 matches at Spanos Stadium as well as serving as the largest margin of victory at the complex. Cal Poly's highest tally since putting eight past Division II Cal State Monterey Bay on Sept. 1, 2000, the five-goal total also marked the program's highest output in a Big West match. Finally, Cal Poly's victory marked just the second time the Mustangs had hit five goals during Paul Holocher's six-season tenure as head coach.
BACKLINE REMAINS THE BACKBONE: Cal Poly enters Tuesday's match versus Cal State Northridge having conceded just eight goals in 11 matches and owning conference bests for shutouts (six) and goals-against average (0.69). Leading Cal Poly's defensive prowess is the back four of left back Wes Feighner, right back Cameron Walters and center backs Patrick Sigler and Connor Drechsler, who have started 28 of the previous 29 matches together. Already this season, Cal Poly has held an opponent to a single-digit shot total on six occasions.
FRESH FACES EMERGE FOR MUSTANGS: Freshman forward Nolan Moore became the fifth different player to record his first goal as a Mustang when notching during the 85th minute against UC Riverside (Oct. 9). An offseason transfer from Saint Louis, junior forward Benny Estes bagged his first Mustang goal against Denver (Sept. 25). Estes also leads Cal Poly with 20 shot attempts. Junior forward Dakota Collins, an offseason transfer from UCLA, co-leads the Mustangs with a pair of goals after scoring versus Seattle (Sept. 4) and Villanova (Sept. 9). Also scoring for the first time in a Mustang shirt are sophomore forwards Ian Clark and Mackenzie Pridham, who brought their season tallies to two goals apiece after finding the back of the net during Cal Poly's 5-0 romp versus UC Riverside (Oct. 9).
SHOTS APLENTY: Five of Cal Poly's 12 goals this season came during one match, but Cal Poly's inability to find the back of the net isn't due to lack of opportunity. Entering Tuesday's match against Cal State Northridge, Cal Poly is averaging 13.6 shots per game compared to the opponent's 9.0 figure. Cal Poly, which produced a season-high 20 shot attempts versus both then-No. 12 West Virginia (Sept. 11) and against Denver (Sept. 25), has outshot its opponent during all but three matches this year.
MUSTANGS ON BEST BEHAVIOR: Cal Poly finds itself at the bottom of the Big West disciplinary chart for the second-consecutive season. The Mustangs enter Tuesday's match versus Cal State Northridge having committed a Big West-low 139 fouls and rank second with just 15 yellow cards.
BIG WEST EXCELLENCE: Only one Big West program – central coast foe UC Santa Barbara – has totaled more conference points, produced more conference victories and suffered fewer conference defeats than Cal Poly since Mustang head coach Paul Holocher's 2006 arrival. Below are the composite Big West standings since the start of the 2006 conference schedule.
Big West Standings (2006-Present)
1. UC Santa Barbara (37-11-7) – 118
2. UC Irvine (28-18-10) – 94
3. Cal Poly (27-16-12) – 93
4. Cal State Northridge (21-22-12) – 75
5. UC Davis* (20-19-7) – 67
6. Cal State Fullerton (15-34-5) – 50
7. UC Riverside (9-38-8) – 35
*Joined Big West in 2007
FORTRESS SPANOS: Four of Cal Poly's initial five Big West contests take place inside Alex G. Spanos Stadium, a venue where the Mustangs are 28-8-8 since the venue's 2007 opening. During the past four-plus seasons, the Mustangs have recorded 18 shutout victories at home and Cal Poly's goalkeepers have kept 22 clean sheets. Additionally, Cal Poly has drawn 1,000-plus spectators during 33 of its 44 matches at the complex.
HELD IN HIGH REGARD: Following Cal Poly's 1-0 upset of then-No. 7 UC Irvine – the highest-ranked opponent the program has ever defeated – the Mustangs are 7-13-8 against nationally-ranked opposition under sixth-year head coach Paul Holocher. UC Irvine also ranks as the only top-10 program the Mustangs have defeated at the Division I level.
MUSTANGS FACE NATION'S FINEST IN 2011: In what has become a hallmark of head coach Paul Holocher's tenure, Cal Poly is again facing one of the more testing schedules in Division I soccer during the 2011 campaign. Continuing with Friday's home clash versus UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly will contest six total matches this season against programs that qualified for the 2010 NCAA Tournament.
MUSTANGS RETURN TO THE SMALL SCREEN: Fox Soccer Channel optioned Cal Poly's Nov. 4 match at UC Santa Barbara, marking the second-successive season and third time in four years that the two rivals have appeared on national television. On FSC last season and before 8,125 spectators – the 13th-largest regular season attendance figure in NCAA history – Chris Gaschen's 93rd-minute strike delivered the Mustangs a 2-1 home victory against UC Santa Barbara. FSC also carried Cal Poly's 2008 home match versus the nationally-ranked Gauchos.
SPANOS STADIUM – WHERE ATTENDANCE RECORDS GO TO DIE: Five of the top-21 best-attended regular season matches in the history of collegiate soccer have occurred at Spanos Stadium and all have been recorded since the start of the 2007 season. In total, Cal Poly has been involved in seven of the top 21 best-attended matches.
LOOKING AHEAD (OCT. 17-23): Cal Poly opens the second half of its Big West schedule with road dates at Cal State Fullerton (Wednesday, Nov. 19) and UC Davis (Oct. 22). The Mustangs have won their last three road matches against Cal State Fullerton dating to the 2007 campaign, but have dropped four-successive away matches versus the Aggies. UC Davis already owns a 1-0 victory at Cal Poly (Oct. 5).
FEIGHNER SELECTED FOR LOWE'S SENIOR CLASS AWARD: Wes Feighner (Los Alamitos, Calif.) made athletics department history on Aug. 17 by becoming the first men's soccer player and just the second Cal Poly athlete to be named as a candidate for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. Feighner, a three-year captain who has started 65 of 66 games during his career, was one of 30 finalists for the honor, which recognizes outstanding performances in the classroom, community and on the playing field. A kinesiology major, Feighner was honored in March as Cal Poly's Big West Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the 2010-11 academic term. A seven-time selection to the Dean's List at Cal Poly, Feighner was also named to the Big West Academic Fall All-Conference team in 2009 and 2010. On the field, Feighner earned All-Big West and NSCAA All-Far West Region second team praise last year after starting all 18 of Cal Poly's matches and compiling three assists. Feighner's disciplinary record is nearly spotless, with just one yellow card in 55 matches. In the community, Feighner volunteers time for clinics at local schools through Cal Poly's Student of the Game program and has helped local AYSO coaches organize practices and strategize for matches. As a kinesiology major and through the department's PolyFIT program, Feighner helps administer body composition tests for students to be aware of potential cardiovascular disease and other health risks. The list of 30 candidates for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season.
ETC.: Cal Poly's only victory when getting outshot this season was a 1-0 triumph at then-No. 7 UC Irvine (Sept. 28) … senior center back Patrick Sigler's match-winning penalty at UC Irvine (Sept. 28) was Cal Poly ninth converted penalty during its previous 10 opportunities from the spot dating to 2008 … a 2-0 halftime deficit versus Denver (Sept. 25) marks the only time Cal Poly has trailed at the break this season … Cal Poly's Aug. 27 victory versus UNLV marked sixth-year head coach Paul Holocher's 100th match in charge of the Mustangs and the program's 5-0 slaughtering of UC Riverside on Oct. 9 marked his 50th victory at Cal Poly … Cal Poly's five-match home stand to open the regular season was the third longest such streak in program history (the Mustangs went 4-0-3 to close the 1997 season and also played six-successive home matches during the 2006 campaign).
