LA JOLLA, Calif. - The UC San Diego men's soccer team, with home-field advantage for the remainder of the California Collegiate Athletic Association regular season, looks to capitalize and regain some ground in the South Division standings.
The Tritons, who will host four division rivals over the next two weekends, are 4-1-2 at home in 2009. The UCSD squad has gone 1-3 so far this year against those four opponents - Cal State San Bernardino, Cal Poly Pomona, No. 10 Cal State L.A. and Cal State Dominguez Hills - and all four of the matches have been decided by a single goal. Overall the Tritons are 7-5-4 in 2009 with a 4-5-3 league record.
First on the schedule for the Tritons is a 7 p.m. match against CSUSB on Friday. The Coyotes have played well recently, winning six of their last eight contests, and as a result are only a few points behind division leaders CSUDH and CSULA. UCSD lost a 1-0 road match at CSUSB earlier this year on Sept. 27 as Albert Cabrera, who is tied for the league lead in scores with 10, tallied the game-winning goal. The defeat evened the all-time series at 14-14-4, with the Coyotes victorious in the previous three matches.
On Sunday the Tritons will host CPP, with the kickoff slated for 2:30 p.m. The Broncos, at 5-6-1, are only one point ahead of UCSD in the division standings. The Tritons have won the previous three matches between the two squads, including a 1-0 victory in Pomona on Sept. 25 with junior Kasra Sarabakhsh scoring the deciding goal for UCSD. For the Broncos, junior Tyler Reinhart continues to lead the way on offense with 10 goals, tied for the league lead, and five assists.
The Tritons' defense continues to be strong this season, ranking fourth in the CCAA in goals against average at 0.94. The UCSD backline, featuring Jared Kukura, Josh Jackson, Chris Gutierrez and Daniel Pavitt, has kept each match close this season as 15 of the 16 games so far have either been tied or decided by just one score.
In a 1-0 road loss this past Sunday at CSULA, UCSD senior goalkeeper Peter Akman recorded a career-high 11 saves. The Tritons will host the Golden Eagles and Toros in the final weekend of the league's regular season.
