LA JOLLA, Calif. ? Winners of six of their last seven contests overall, the UC San Diego women's soccer team will shoot for win No. 10 this Friday when the Tritons face off with Cal State Stanislaus at 12:30 p.m. Following the matchup with the Warriors, UCSD will travel to Chico State to battle the Wildcats Sunday morning at 11:30 a.m.
Head coach Brian McMannus' squad heads north on the heels of a pair of wins over 12th-ranked Sonoma State and Humboldt State in California Collegiate Athletic Association action last weekend. The Tritons came from behind to defeat the Seawolves on Friday night, with senior forward
Natasha Belak-Berger scoring twice after intermission to propel UCSD to the 2-1 victory. The Tritons had another big second half against the Lumberjacks on Sunday, scoring three goals after intermission to run away from HSU, 3-0.
With the 2-0-0 week, UCSD moved back into first place in the CCAA Southern Division standings, tied with Cal State San Bernardino at 6-2-0 with six league games remaining. The Tritons are 9-2-1 overall.
Belak-Berger tallied three of the teams five goals on the weekend and was named the Brine/CCAA Women's Soccer Player of the Week for her performance. The Thousand Oaks, Calif. native leads the CCAA with eight goals this season, a total that ties a career mark set during her rookie campaign in 2005.
While Belak-Berger has definitely been the catalyst, UCSD's offense has come from many different sources in 2008, as a total of nine different players have found the net. Among the Tritons' other scoring leaders are
Alexia Zatarain,
Laura Borenstein, and
Remy Hitt, who have tallied three goals apiece, while freshman
Sarah McTigue has chipped in with two. As a team, UCSD ranks fourth in the CCAA with a total of 23 goals this season.
Cal State Stanislaus (5-3-4, 1-3-3 CCAA) is one of the teams ranked ahead of the Tritons in that category and enters Friday's showdown with a total of 31 goals scored in 12 games. The Warriors have been solid on the defensive end of the field as well, allowing just 12 goals in 2008. Despite the team's ability to find the net, the Warriors find themselves in fifth place in the CCAA Northern Division standings after going 0-1-2 in their last three. The Triton defense, which ranks first in the conference with just eight goals allowed, will look to put the clamps down and keep that streak going.
UCSD defeated Cal State Stanislaus 4-0 last season and leads the all-time series with CSUS 7-1-1.
After Friday's contest, the Tritons will travel to Chico for a date with the Wildcats. Chico State enters play this week with an overall record of 6-5-2 and a 2-3-2 mark against conference foes after falling 4-1 at the hands of Cal State L.A. last weekend. The Wildcats rank sixth in the CCAA with 19 goals scored and have lost just once in six matches at home this season.
UCSD has won six of the nine previous head-to-head meetings with Chico State.
