Sept. 29, 2009

Complete Release in PDF Format

COMING UP NEXT: The UC Davis men's soccer team opens Big West Conference play Wednesday at UC Irvine... The Aggies then travel to Cal Poly Sunday... Wednesday's kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. while Sunday's match will begin at 1:00 p.m.

LIVE COVERAGE: UC Irvine will provide Gametracker for Wednesday's match-up... Visit www.ucirvinesports.com or www.ucdavisaggies.com to access the live stats feed... Cal Poly will have live audio of the game Sunday afternoon which can be accessed at www.gopoly.com.

SCOUTING THE ANTEATERS: UC Irvine (6-3-0, 0-1-0) split their weekend matchups by defeating Princeton Friday and falling to No. 7 UC Santa Barbara Sunday... The Anteaters played Princeton at the Nike Aztec Soccer Classic in San Diego and defeated the Tigers 2-1... UC Irvine then traveled to Santa Barbara and lost 1-0 to the seventh-ranked Gauchos... The Anteaters are led by junior Amani Walker who has scored four goals in nine games... UC Irvine returns two All-Americans in senior Irving Garcia and sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Fontein... Fontein currently leads the conference in shutouts with four and has a .765 save percentage... Head coach George Kuntz is in his 14th season with UC Irvine.

ALL-TIME AGAINST UC IRVINE: Since joining the Big West Conference in the 2004 season, UC Davis owns a 3-4-3 overall record against UC Irvine... Three games have gone to overtime during the series... In 2008, the Aggies held the Anteaters to a 1-1 double overtime tie in both meetings... The last meeting was during the Big West Conference Tournament Nov. 12... UC Irvine claimed a 1-0 win.

SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS: Cal Poly (2-6-0) dropped both games over the weekend at the Husky Fever Classic... The Mustangs fell to Portland 2-0 Friday and then dropped a 3-1 decision to host Washington... Cal Poly returns eight starters from a team that finished T-2nd in the Big West and advanced to the first round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament... In addition, the Cal Poly roster boasts 15 newcomers and two returning redshirts... David Zamora and Jacob Hustedt lead the team with two goals each while Chris Gaschen has two assists... Head coach Paul Holocher is in his third season... The Mustangs open Big West Conference play Wednesday at Cal State Fullerton.

ALL-TIME AGAINST CAL POLY: UC Davis is 4-5-0 against Cal Poly since joining the Big West Conference for the 2004 season... Last year, the Aggies defeated the Mustangs at Aggie Soccer Stadium Oct. 4 by a score of 2-0 but lost at Cal Poly 2-0 Nov. 2.

BIG WEST CONFERENCE NOTES: UC Davis is 1-3-1 in Big West Conference openers since joining the league for the 2004 season... The Aggies currently rank in the top three in three team categories in the Big West Conference: third in assists (12), third in assists per game (1.33) and third in corner kicks (5.89 per game)... Individually, Paul Marcoux is sixth in goals with three and Jason Santos is fifth in assists with three... Goalkeeper Ryan McCowan ranks third in the conference in saves (24).

COACH SHAFFER ON THE BIG WEST CONFERENCE: "Our goal every year is to make it to the Big West Conference Tournament and if we come in the top four in the league, then we can do that. Hopefully by the end of the year, we're playing our best soccer and can get into the tournament. This is not an easy league. There are always teams that are consistently ranked in the Top-25. UC Santa Barbara is always a good team as is UC Irvine. Cal State Northridge is off to their best start in a few years. Cal State Fullerton is having a great year so far. So it is always very competitive when conference play starts but the beauty of soccer is that anyone has the chance to win at any time. If we stay focused and play well, we definitely have a chance for a top four finish."