Oct. 13, 2009

Complete Release in PDF Format

NOTE: THE UC DAVIS-UC SANTA BARBARA MEN'S SOCCER GAME HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL THURSDAY, OCT. 15 AT NOON AT AGGIE SOCCER STADIUM

COMING UP NEXT: The UC Davis men's soccer team concludes a three-game homestand Thursday when No. 3/4 UC Santa Barbara (9-2-1, 3-0) visits Aggie Soccer Stadium... Kickoff is set for 3:00 p.m... The Aggies then travel south to face Cal State Fullerton (6-5-1, 2-1) at Titan Stadium Saturday at 7:00 p.m.

LIVE COVERAGE: Gametracker will be provided for Thursday's match against UC Santa Barbara and can be accessed at www.ucdavisaggies.com... Cal State Fullerton will provide Gametracker and live video for Saturday's game... Visit www.fullertontitans.com for more details.

SCOUTING THE GAUCHOS: UC Santa Barbara is currently ranked as high as third nationally in the NSCAA/adidas national poll... The Gauchos are also ranked fifth by College Soccer News and fourth by Soccer Times... UCSB currently owns a four-game win streak and most recently defeated Cal Poly 1-0 Oct. 7 and UC Riverside 1-0 Oct. 10 to open Big West play... Michael Nonni and David Walker lead the team with five goals apiece while Nonni has also recorded six assists... Goalkeeper Sam Hayden has recorded seven shutouts, including four straight, in 2009... Head coach Tim Vom Steeg is in his 11th season and became the Big West's all-time winningest coach with the win against Cal Poly Oct. 7.

ALL-TIME AGAINST UC SANTA BARBARA: UC Davis owns a 2-5-2 all-time record against UC Santa Barbara and is 1-1-2 since becoming an official member of the Big West in 2007... The Aggies are 2-1-1 in Aggie Soccer Stadium against the Gauchos... Four games have been decided in overtime... The Aggies and Gauchos last met Nov. 8, 2008 and battled to a 0-0 double overtime result in Davis.

SCOUTING THE TITANS: Cal State Fullerton picked up two overtime wins last week, including a 3-2 double overtime victory against UC Davis Saturday... The Titans also topped Cal State Northridge 2-1 in overtime Oct. 7... Junior Celso Alvarez leads the team with five goals while Shay Spitz has three... Goalkeeper Trevor Whiddon is second in the conference in save percentage (.783) and leads the Big West in saves with 47... Head coach Bob Ammann is in his fourth season and led the Titans to a sixth place finish in the Big West in 2008... Cal State Fullerton will play at Cal Poly Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.

ALL-TIME AGAINST CAL STATE FULLERTON: UC Davis is 4-4-2 all-time against Cal State Fullerton and owns a 1-2-2 Big West record... The teams have gone to overtime four times since 2004... UC Davis is 2-1-1 all-time at Titan Stadium.

SATURDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: UC Davis will play six games under lights in 2009 and currently own a 1-3 record when playing night games... The Aggies last played under the lights at UC Irvine and topped the Anteaters 2-1 in double overtime... Since 2007, UC Davis is 4-5-3 all-time in night games (6:00 p.m. or later start times).

DEFENSE DOMINATES: So far in 2009, UC Davis has recorded two shutouts and held opponents to two goals or less 10 times... The Aggie defense has also held opponents to 10 shots or less four times: Central Arkansas had a season-low six shots Sept. 6... Saint Mary's posted seven shots Sept. 25... Robert Morris had eight shots Sept. 4... UC Riverside only recorded 10 shots Oct. 7... UC Davis is also limiting their opponents to a .392 SOG percentage in 2009.

HOME SWEET HOME: UC Davis will conclude a three-game homestand Wednesday by hosting No. 3/4 UC Santa Barbara... The current stretch of home games is the second longest for the Aggies since joining the Div. I ranks... In 2005, UC Davis played four straight at home (Sept. 1-11)... To close out the season, UC Davis will play five of the eight remaining matches in Aggie Soccer Stadium... UC Davis started the season on the road for eight of the 11 previous matches, including a four straight road games to open 2009... The last time the Aggies opened the season with four straight road games was in 1993.

MARVELOUS MARCOUX: Senior midfielder Paul Marcoux has been a spark on offense for the Aggies... He currently leads the team with five goals, which is just one off his career-high of six set in 2006... Marcoux also scored five goals in the 2007 season... Two of his goals are gamewinners, including the 106th minute golden goal over defending Big West Champion UC Irvine Sept. 30... He also had the game-winning assist Wednesday against UC Riverside... Marcoux currently leads the team in points, goals, shots and shots on goal... He also leads the Big West in points and points per game in conference play and is tied for first in goals with two other players.