Nov. 5, 2009

Complete Release in PDF Format

COMING UP NEXT: The UC Davis men's soccer team will travel south to face No. 2 UC Santa Barbara at Harder Stadium Saturday at 7:00 p.m. in their regular season finale.

LIVE COVERAGE: Gametracker will be provided by the Gauchos for Saturday's game... In addition UCSB will have a live online radio stream via their website at www.ucsbgauchos.com.

SCOUTING THE GAUCHOS: No. 2 UC Santa Barbara clinched the Big West Conference regular season title and the top seed in the league tournament with a 0-0 double overtime tie at Cal Poly Wednesday... It is the Gauchos' sixth Big West title in nine seasons... UCSB received its highest ranking of the year Monday when Top Drawer Soccer ranked the Gauchos second in the country... UCSB ranks fifth in the nation in shutout percentage (.650) and 15th in scoring offense with a team average of 1.94 goals per game... David Walker leads the team with six goals while Danny Barrera has recorded eight assists on the season... Goalkeeper Sam Hayden recorded his 12th shutout of the year Wednesday and is one away from tying the school record of 13... He is second in the league and 31st nationally in save percentage (.826) and leads the Big West with his 0.70 goals against average.

ALL-TIME AGAINST UCSB: UC Davis owns a 2-6-2 all-time record against UC Santa Barbara and is 1-2-2 since becoming an official member of the Big West in 2007... Earlier this season, UC Davis fell 3-0 to UC Santa Barbara Oct. 15 at Aggie Soccer Stadium... The Aggies are 1-2-2 all-time at Harder Stadium and defeated the Gauchos there last season by a score of 2-0.

LEER SCORES TWICE AS UC DAVIS TOPS CAL POLY: Senior Chris Leer scored in the 24th minute, then followed with another goal in the 48th minute to lead UC Davis to a 2-0 shutout victory over Cal Poly Oct. 31... Leer also led the team with eight shots, four of which were on frame... The Aggies outshot the Mustangs 18-7... Redshirt freshman Matt Provencher recorded his first shutout of the season... The victory snapped a five game winless streak for the Aggies that dated back to Oct. 10.

CHOPAN EARNS ACADEMIC HONOR: Redshirt freshman Mustafa Chopan was selected to the 2009 CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District VIII Team for men's soccer, it was announced Oct. 29... Chopan is majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology and currently holds a 3.91 grade point average... The Citrus Heights, Calif. native is the second Aggie to receive this honor since UC Davis was reclassified into Division I... He is now up for consideration for Academic All-America.

BIG WEST NOTES AND NEWS: UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly and UC Irvine have each secured spots in the Big West Conference tournament... Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Northridge and UC Davis are vying for the fourth and final position.