Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara Vie For Women's Soccer Regular Season Title

Files associated with this release:
Women's Soccer Weekly Release No. 11

A showdown between Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara takes place on Sunday for the Big West women's soccer regular season title.

Central Coast rivals Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara square off for the Big West women's soccer regular season championship and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming conference tournament to highlight this week's action.  The Mustangs lead the Gauchos by two points in the standings going into the contest.

NOTEWORTHY

Keep An Eye On

Cynthia Jacobo, Cal State Northridge
What an incredible start to the collegiate career of Cynthia Jacobo.  The freshman goalkeeper gave up her redshirt to step in for injured regulars Kellie Drenner and Leah Elliott, making an important impact for the Matadors.  She has not allowed a goal in 414 minutes and 17 seconds since joining the lineup on Oct. 11 against UC Davis.  She has posted four straight shutouts against Big West opponents.  Jacobo made two saves in Cal State Northridge’s 1-0 victory against UC Irvine on Sunday to help her team clinch a spot in next month’s Big West Tournament.

MORE NOTABLES

Four Of Top Five Wins Leaders Current Coaches
Longevity and success have permitted current Big West women’s soccer coaches to occupy four of the top five spots on the all-time victories list.  Cal Poly head coach Alex Crozier leads the group with 160 victories. Pacific’s Keith Coleman is second overall with 135 wins and UC Santa Barbara’s Paul Stumpf is third on the list with 107.  Veronica O’Brien, with 81 victories at UC Riverside, sits in fifth.  The Big West began sponsoring women’s soccer in 1996.  The four coaches have a combined 44 years of head coaching experience in the Big West.

COACHING VICTORY LEADERS
(as member of the Big West)

160    Alex Crozier, Cal Poly
135    Keith Coleman, Pacific
107    Paul Stumpf, UC Santa Barbara
92      Marine Cano, UC Irvine
81      Veronica O’Brien, UC Riverside

bold denotes active Big West head coach

Northridge To Return To Big West Tournament
The Matadors are returning to the Big West Tournament for the first time in five years.  CSUN last made a tournament appearance in 2004 when it lost 4-2 to UC Santa Barbara in the semifinals.  The resurgence is due in large part to a defense that has pinned four consecutive shutouts on league opponents.  The four straight shutouts is a new school record.

Showdown On The Central Coast
The rivalry between Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara is about to get a whole lot more intense when the two foes engage in a battle for the Big West regular season championship and the tournament’s No. 1 seed on Sunday in Santa Barbara.  Cal Poly leads the conference standings with 18 points and owns a 6-1-0 record.  UC Santa Barbara sits in second place at 16 points and 5-1-1.  It is a rematch of last season’s thriller in the Big West Tournament semifinals, which was tied 1-1 after 110 minutes of regulation and overtime play.  UCSB advanced by virtue of winning a penalty kick shootout, 5-4.

More Mustang-Gaucho Facts
Cal Poly is aiming for its sixth Big West regular season championship.  The Mustangs won previous titles in 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2003.  UC Santa Barbara is going for its third title overall, but first of the outright variety.  The Gauchos were co-regular season champions in 2004 and 2006.  Cal Poly leads the all-time series 9-6-3, but the Gauchos have won three of the last four regular season meetings.  Both teams are undefeated at home in conference play this season - CP (4-0) and UCSB (3-0).  CP has won 10 games for the seventh time in the last eight years.

Kugler’s Goal Scoring Spree
Junior Kailyn Kugler is a key reason for UC Santa Barbara’s recent stretch of success – 5-1-1 in its last seven games.  The native of San Clemente, Calif. has scored seven goals during that span, and her nine goals on the season leads the Gauchos and ranks No. 2 in the Big West.  Kugler also has three assists in the recent offensive onslaught.

Fourth Spot Up For Grabs
The final weekend of Big West regular season play will be hotly contested all over the conference as one remaining spot for the Big West Tournament is up for grabs.  The battle for the final spot is between Pacific, UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton.  The Tigers travel to UC Riverside on Friday and Cal State Fullerton on Sunday.  The Titans host UC Davis on Friday before facing the Tigers.  UC Irvine has only conference game left, a home date with Long Beach State on Thursday.  A potential three-way tie between the trio exists, and Big West tiebreaker procedures would determine which of the three teams would advance to the tournament.  
 
Thulin Makes The Most Of Playing Time
Sophomore forward Afton Thulin came off the bench for Cal Poly to score her first goal of the season, and it was a big one against Pacific.  She deposited the game-winning goal in the ninth minute of overtime to lead the Mustangs to a 1-0 victory against the Tigers.  Thulin pounced on a deflected shot to earn the goal.  Cal Poly has now won 10 of its last 11 games.

deSeriere Ninth On Big West Shutout Chart
UC Irvine junior goalkeeper Danielle deSeriere is tied for ninth in the Big West record book with 19 career shutouts, but has only one shutout in the last six games.  She is gearing for career shutout No. 20 when the Anteaters host Long Beach State on Thursday.   UCI closes out the regular season in a non-conference battle with Gonzaga on Sunday.

BIG WEST CAREER SHUTOUTS
34    Liz Ramos, Long Beach State    2005-08
28    Kim McCaskey, Pacific    1997-99
27    Tawny Poggio, UC Riverside    2003-06
26    Karen Bardsley, Cal State Fullerton    2002-06
24    Jamie Considine, UC Santa Barbara    2002-05
23    Liz Hill, Cal Poly    2002-05
22    Jaime Souza, Pacific    2004-07
22    Greta Shirdon, Cal Poly    2000-03
19    Natalia Garcia, Cal Poly    1996-00
19    Danielle deSeriere, UC Irvine    2007-present

Big West Live Comes To Twitter
The Big West Conference is excited to bring Big West Live to Twitter, a Twitter feed designed to give fans an in-the-stands view of select Big West Events.  Bringing near-instantaneous photos, commentary, and updates, Big West Live is the first feed of its kind.  Moving beyond the scores and stats, Big West Live delivers the “color” of Big West events.

Follow Your Team On BigWest.TV
The Big West Conference and the CBS College Sports Network are partnering to bring you exclusive coverage of Big West sports, press conferences, interviews, and features to your home via the Internet!  Now in its fifth year, BigWest.TV covers every home and conference contest in men’s basketball as well as women’s basketball and volleyball.  Also covered are select contests in men’s and women’s soccer, baseball, softball, and Big West Conference Championships.  A monthly subscription of $9.95 or an annual subscription of $79.95 delivers exclusive coverage to you.  If you can’t make it to the gym or the field, you can still catch all the action on BigWest.TV!