With just two weeks remaining until the end of the regular season, the race for the Big West tournament will reach a frenetic pace as teams jockey for the top four positions.
#8 UC Davis currently has the lead but #13 UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly are hot on the Aggies' heels for the top spot in the conference. Those two clubs can’t look ahead as Cal State Northridge and #20 UC Irvine aim to better their slots and crash the four-team conference postseason derby.
This week's schedule is littered with matches that could start to shape the conference tournament picture.
Wednesday, #13 UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Northridge renew their rivalry with an early afternoon showdown at Matador Soccer Field. Not only will a CSUN win give it the season series, it will put more pressure on #20 UC Irvine to get a result against Cal State Fullerton later in the day. The Matadors are also just two points behind third place Cal Poly which visits UC Riverside looking not only to keep pace with the top two teams, but also put some distance between them and CSUN.
Saturday, the Highlanders face their second straight top four team in the Big West as Cal State Northridge comes to the Inland Empire. UCR will look to reverse an earlier 1-0 road decision against the Matadors as well as put a roadblock into CSUN’s potential postseason plans. Later that night, a big match is brewing in Santa Barbara as the Gauchos welcome #20 UC Irvine to town in a game pitting two top 20 teams nationally. Aside from just needing a win for standings purposes, the Anteaters probably want a victory in general as they've tied each of their last three conference matches and four of the six Big West matches they've played to this point. As for UCSB, the UCI match is the second in a tough finishing stretch that has it playing the current fourth, fifth, third and first place teams to finish the regular season.
Wrapping things up on Sunday is another big matchup in Spanos Stadium as #8 UC Davis heads south to play homestanding Cal Poly. The Aggies are looking to sweep the season series from the Mustangs, which could be a big tiebreaker as the conference tournament looms on the horizon. Meanwhile, Cal Poly is aiming to reestablish the dominance they've had in Spanos. The Mustangs are 0-1-1 and have scored just one goal in their last two home matches after starting the season 6-0-0 with an average of 2.5 goals per outing.