Cal Poly Hosts Cal State Fullerton, UC Riverside to Open Big West Play

Thursday, September 23

San Luis Obispo, CA

7:00 PM

Cal State Fullerton

Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics

Cal Poly Hosts Cal State Fullerton, UC Riverside to Open Big West Play

9/22/2021 10:54:00 AM | Women's Soccer

SAN LUIS OBISPO – The Cal Poly women's soccer program opens its 25th season of Big West Conference action at Alex G. Spanos Stadium when hosting Cal State Fullerton on Thursday, Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. and UC Riverside on Sunday, Sept. 26 at 12 noon. The Big West's highest scoring program with 17 goals, Cal Poly (4-5-0) is unbeaten in seven of its previous 10 conference-opening matches, producing six victories since 2009. Having recorded three of its four victories and scored 12 of 17 goals at home this season, Cal Poly completed Big West preparations with 2-1 loss at Seattle (Sept. 19). After opening the season with six straight losses, Cal State Fullerton (3-6-0) takes a three-match winning streak into Thursday's Big West opener – a run that includes a 4-0 non-conference victory against UC Riverside (Sept. 15). UC Riverside (3-4-0), meanwhile, enters its Sept. 23 Big West opener at UC Santa Barbara having won just once in its last four outings.

FOLLOW CAL POLY THIS WEEK: Zachary Anderson-Yoxsimer provides play-by-play of Cal Poly's Thursday matchup versus Cal State Fullerton while Dan Gillman has the call Sunday against UC Riverside for GoPoly.com HERE … live stats and streaming video from both matchups will be available via GoPoly.com HERE.

CAL POLY VERSUS CAL STATE FULLERTON: The Mustangs have won six of their last seven home matchups against Cal State Fullerton dating to 2007, but just one of the last six road matchups versus the Titans. Including a 1-0 home loss versus Cal State Fullerton in the last matchup between the two sides on Oct. 27, 2019, Cal Poly leads the all-time series, 15-11-5.

CAL POLY VERSUS UC RIVERSIDE: Cal Poly has defeated the Highlanders at home just once in UC Riverside's last three visits to Spanos Stadium as junior midfielder Sidra Bugsch and junior forward Brooke Rubenstein delivered goals as part of a 3-0 Mustang victory to close the 2019 season.

TRUCCO SETS SCORING PACE: The Big West Conference's leading scorer and ranked 40th among NCAA Division I players with five goals, sophomore forward Nikki Trucco surpassed her 2019, three-goal total after just six matches. Including the 17th-minute opener at Seattle (Sept. 19), Trucco has scored four times in Cal Poly's last six matches. Also ranked fifth in the Big West with 21 shot attempts, Trucco has started eight of nine games for Cal Poly in 2021.

LAFAIX BACK ON THE SCORESHEET: Cal Poly's first Big West Offensive Player of the Week honoree in six years after recording her first two goals of the season versus Gonzaga (Sept. 10) and San Jose State (Sept. 12), sophomore midfielder Camille Lafaix has placed eight of 10 shot attempts on target this season. A starter in eight of nine games, Lafaix also added an assist in the 5-0 win against San Jose State.

DORVILLIER IN FRAME: Ranked second among Big West goalkeepers with a .763 save percentage and sixth with a 1.59 goals against average, junior Ava Dorvillier earned her first shutout of the season during Cal Poly's 5-0 win against San Jose State (Sept. 12). Also ranked second in the Big West with 45 total saves and fifth with 5.00 saves per game, Dorvillier recorded a career best nine saves against Gonzaga (Sept. 10) after chalking up seven against No. 24 Stanford (Aug. 19), at Colorado College (Sept. 5) and at Seattle (Sept. 19).

SUPER SUB: Cal Poly's second leading scorer with two goals alongside Camille Lafaix, both of freshman Kate Reedy's strikes have come in reserve appearances with the midfielder finding the back of the net against Sacramento State (Aug. 29) and the game-winner at Colorado College (Sept. 5). Averaging just 37.3 minutes per appearance, Reedy made her first career start at Seattle (Sept. 19).

UP NEXT (SEPT. 30 AND OCT. 3): Cal Poly hits the road for the first time in Big West play and opens the final month of the regular season with visits to Hawai'i (Thursday, Sept. 30) and UC Davis (Sunday, Oct. 3). Cal Poly then opens its final home stand of the regular season – a three-game stretch – when hosting CSU Bakersfield on Thursday, Oct. 7.