This Week in the Big West - October 18-24, 2010

10/18/2010

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The close of the soccer regular seasons are near, with women's soccer entering the final two weeks of play and men's soccer their final three weeks.  The conference races are tight in both, as well as in women's volleyball.  Top teams will meet in women's soccer and women's volleyball this week, while the men's soccer leaders hit the road for conference contests.

Men's Soccer

A lighter schedule is set for this week, as men's soccer teams prepare for the final three weeks of the regular season.  On Wednesday, top teams UC Santa Barbara (4-1-0 Big West, 12 points) & UC Irvine (3-0-1, 10 points) hit the road to begin the week, with the Gauchos visiting UC Davis and the Anteaters headed to Northridge to face the Matadors.

The third match on Wednesday will feature UC Riverside paying a visit to Fullerton to meet the Titans in a match to be aired on BigWest.TV.  This is the third year in a row select Cal State Fullerton contests have been aired on BigWest.TV by the Titans.

Saturday has just two matches on the schedule, with UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine returning home to host Cal State Northridge and Cal State Fullerton, respectively.

Men's Soccer Weekly Release #8


Women's Soccer

Two weeks remain in the regular season, and everybody's chasing nationally-ranked UC Irvine (5-0-0 Big West, 15 points).  The 'Eaters will face a stiff test to open the week on Thursday, when they head to Long Beach State to face the 49ers (3-0-1, 10 points).  Both teams are riding lengthy streaks, with UCI coming into the week unbeaten in 13 and having won 10 in a row, while LBSU is unbeaten in their last 7, with three wins in a row.  Kick off at George Allen Field is set for 3:00 p.m. PT.

Four other matches are slated for Thursday night, with Cal Poly visiting Cal State Fullerton and UC Davis facing NorCal rival Pacific in conference play.  UC Santa Barbara will host Seattle and Cal State Northridge will travel to Cal State Bakersfield in non-conference matches.

Four more matches are scheduled for Sunday, with Long Beach State returning to the pitch to face the Big West's current second-place team, Cal State Northridge (4-2-0, 12 points).  UC Irvine remains on the road at UC Riverside, while Cal Poly visits UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara heads to Cal State Fullerton.

Both Cal State Fullerton matches this week will be broadcast on BigWest.TV, courtesy Cal State Fullerton Athletics.  This is the third year in a row select Titan matches have been shown on the Big West Conference's video streaming platform.

Women's Soccer Release #10


Women's Volleyball

***NOTE: The UC Riverside at UC Davis match on Saturday night will not be shown on BigWest.TV due to technical limitations of the match being played at UC Davis' Hickey Gym.***

The first half of the conference season comes to a close this week, with a key match-up set for Saturday.  League-leading Cal State Fullerton (6-1 Big West) will host rival Long Beach State (5-2) in each club's only match of the week.  The Titans are riding a six-match win streak and have won 13 of their last 14.  Meanwhile, Long Beach State has won four in a row and handed the Titans their only conference loss of the year on September 25 in a sweep at the Walter Pyramid.  First serve is set for 7:00 p.m. PT at Titan Gym.

Before the fireworks Saturday, the week begins early with a pair of non-conference matches on Tuesday, as UC Davis travels to San Francisco and Pacific heads to San Jose State.  Conference play resumes on Friday with Cal Poly hosting Cal State Northridge, UC Santa Barbara welcoming UC Irvine and Pacific squaring off against UC Riverside.  On Saturday, Northridge will head to Santa Barbara, Irvine to Santa Barbara, and Riverside to UC Davis. 

For the fifth year in a row, all home and conference matches be broadcast by Big West institutions live on the conference's Internet-streaming initiative BigWest.TV.

Women's Volleyball Release #9