Sports

Defense Keeps UCSD Women's Soccer Unbeaten

Despite not scoring a goal over two games, the Tritons remain atop the standings with six games, all at home, left on the schedule.

No goals, no problem.

The No. 2-ranked UC San Diego women’s soccer team headed to Northern California for two games over the weekend and was held scoreless in both contests. But the Tritons also posted two shutouts as well in a pair of 0-0 standoffs that kept UCSD unbeaten.

With a tie with Cal State Chico on Friday evening and the scoreless draw at Cal State Stanislaus on Sunday afternoon during their final road trip of the season, the Tritons stand at 8-0-4 overall and 7-0-3 in CCAA play. That's good enough for first place in the CCAA South at 24 points, with six matches to play. All of UCSD’s remaining contests will be at home, where the Tritons are 3-0.

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UCSD's 8-0-4 record in its first 12 matches is the team's longest span without a loss to start a season since joining NCAA Division II in 2000. The best previous start was the 2007 team that lost its 12th contest after a 10-0-1 start.

The last time UCSD started the year undefeated in its first 12 contests was in 1994, when the Tritons were without a loss for their first 17 matches (14-0-3) before losing to Trenton State College (NJ) in the NCAA Division III National Championship.

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UCSD’s 12 matches without a loss to start 2011 is the fifth-longest such streak in school history. The school record is 22 (20-0-2), back in 1988 when the Tritons were national runners-up for the first time in school history.

On Friday, UCSD was outshot in its second straight contest but won the corner kick battle with Stanislaus 9-2. Midfielder Shelby Wong led all players with six shots, three on goal. Kristin Armstrong matched the Warrior goalkeeper with seven saves.

UCSD had a five-match win streak over CSUS snapped with Sunday’s tie. The Tritons had outscored the Warriors 17-0 within that stretch.

The Warrior defense kept UC San Diego off the board in the first overtime despite five Triton shot attempts. In the second OT, Anne Wethe almost gave UCSD the win on a shot after a scramble in front of the net. Wethe's shot got through traffic to the near post while Brown was at the far post. However, a CSUS defender was there to clear the ball off the line.

The scoreless draw marks the Tritons’ third 0-0 tie on the season. Armstrong and the Triton defense have surrendered just three goals on the year and UCSD has come away with at least a point in each CCAA match this season.

The Tritons are four points clear of Cal State L.A., in second place with 20 points and a 6-2-2 record in CCAA play. UCSD and CSULA will face-off Friday night at Triton Soccer Field at 7 p.m.

UCSD then will host fifth-place Cal State Dominguez Hills (4-5-0 CCAA, 13 points) on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

MEN'S SOCCER

Cal State Stanislaus scored with less than two minutes left in the second overtime period to take a 2-1 sudden-death victory from UC San Diego in California Collegiate Athletic Association play on Sunday afternoon at Warrior Stadium.

Sam Ball nearly handed UCSD three points with a shot off the post five minutes into the second overtime. Two and half minutes later, CSUS’s Austin Schwalbach finished a shot to Jesse Brennan’s right to end the match.

The Tritons went 0-2 on their weekend in Northern California. UCSD remains in fourth position in the CCAA South with a 6-6 overall record and a 5-5 CCAA (15 points) mark. UCSD came into the road trip on a three-match win streak.

The story is different for the Warriors. CSUS (6-3-1 CCAA, 19 points) kept pace with Sonoma State (6-3-1 CCAA, 19 points) to stay atop the CCAA North.

UCSD has six matches remaining in the regular season, all of which will be at Triton Soccer Field. The Tritons must make-up at least four points in their final six-pack if they are to clinch a CCAA Tournament berth. The team remains in strong position to do so, as UCSD is 3-1 at home. Furthermore, UCSD has not given up a goal at home in conference play this year.

Alex Portela tied the match at 1-1 in the 77th minute, converting from the spot to beat CSUS keeper Bill Hambelton. He currently leads all Tritons with four goals and 10 points on the season. In addition, he’s two-for-two on penalty kicks.

Daniel Kuczynski gave the Warriors a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute. Ball forced a save from Hambelton a minute later and Ian McAuley registered a shot, but the Tritons were unable to pull even before the end of the half.

UCSD begins the six-match home stand on Friday afternoon against Cal State L.A. at 4:30 p.m. at Triton Soccer Field. Cal State Dominguez Hills comes to town on Sunday at noon.

The Tritons fell 1-0 to both CSULA and CSUDH in their first match-ups this season in September.

MEN'S WATER POLO

The No. 9 UC San Diego men's water polo team fell behind early and could not climb back against No. 2 Cal, as the Golden Bears beat the Tritons 18-8 on Sunday afternoon at Canyonview Pool in non-conference play.

UCSD dropped to 11-4 overall on the year. Cal finishes a 14-match road trip with a 14-2 overall mark.

Josh Stiling and Graham Saber scored first-quarter goals for the Tritons, but the Golden Bears jumped out to a 6-2 lead at the first break and did not look back. UCSD managed to limit Cal to just a pair of goals in the second quarter. Still, Stiling was the only Triton to score in those eight minutes and the Bears took a five-goal lead into halftime.

The teams traded goals to open the second half. Ivan Rackov and Aleksa Saponjic scored back-to-back to give the Bears an 11-4 lead with 2:58 remaining in the third. Joe Dietrich answered for the Tritons 13 seconds later, but Cal added two more before Matthew Michalko made it 13-6 seconds before the break.

Michalko would be the lone Triton to score in the final quarter, as the freshman scored a pair to complete a hat trick. The Golden Bears tallied five goals in the fourth for the 10-goal victory.

"Thats a darn good team we just lost to," said UCSD head coach Denny Harper. "I thought we would come out a little bit better today. Needless to say, Cal has some got some phenomenal shooters."

David Morton stopped eight shots in goal for UCSD.

The Tritons travel to Long Beach State on Wednesday afternoon to face the 49ers at 3 p.m. UCSD will then return to Canyonview Pool on Friday night, when the Tritons host No. 5 UC Santa Barbara at 6 p.m.

"Wednesday and Friday are big games. Historically we don't play great at Long Beach, it's always a tough game there," said Harper. "And then anytime we play Santa Barbara is a challenge. Certainly we think we can do better than our last outing against them."

The Tritons play five of their final eight regular season matches at home.

MEN'S AND WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY

The UC San Diego cross country teams defended their home course on Saturday, capturing a pair of team titles at the 19th Annual Triton Classic Invitational on the UCSD Cross Country Course.

UCSD was absolutely dominant on the women’s side, placing six runners in the top 15 en route to a commanding 82 point victory, while the Triton men had all five scorers finish in the top 10 to clip second place Central Arizona by 10 points in the final standings.

Head coach Nate Garcia, who will now send his team to Santa Rosa for the California Collegiate Athletic Association Championships in two weeks, was pleased with his team’s performance in their final home appearance of the season.

“We set out this morning to try to get a couple of victories,” he said. “We knew it was going to be tough with a couple of really talented squads here, but our folks stepped up. They really went out there and challenged themselves and came away with a good result.”

Sophomore Chia Chang has been challenging herself all season and Saturday proved to be no different as the Yorba Linda native paced the Triton women for the fourth time in five races this year. She clocked in at 22:17.5 on the Triton 6k course, finishing third overall. Freshman Michelle Le Roux, who is quickly becoming an emerging star for UCSD, finished right behind her with a fourth place time of 22:18.9.

“We’re really excited about seeing Michelle make that step up,” Garcia said of the Triton’s 1-2 punch. “Closing down that gap to Chia is going to make a huge difference for us moving forward and it makes both of them better. We’re really pleased to see that happen.”

Freshman Dani Brabender was the third Triton to cross the finish line, clocking in at 23:17.9 to claim 10th place overall. Senior Aaryn Kobayashi was 12th at 23.29.2, while sophomore Ximena Cruz finished in 23:37.7 to earn 14th place and round out the scoring for UCSD.

The Tritons finished with a total of 38 points on the day, easily outdistancing second place Central Arizona, which had 120. San Diego State was third with 124 points, while Cal State L.A. tallied 138 to take fourth and Cal State San Bernardino finished fifth with 139.

On the men’s side, it was another familiar face leading the way as well, as junior Matt Lenehan came on strong over the final three miles to finish second overall behind Cal Poly Pomona’s Ryan Carrell. Lenehan posted a 10k time of 32:49.6 to pace the Tritons for the second consecutive race and third time overall in 2011. Carrell clocked in at 32:44.9.

“Matt ran a great race today,” Garcia continued. “He stepped outside himself and really challenged one of the better runners in the conference so that was definitely good to see.”

Behind Lenehan, UCSD had four consecutive runners cross the finish line, claiming seventh through 10th place. Senior Alex Corliss was the first of that group with a final time of 33:13.7, followed closely by senior John Svet (33:23.0) and sophomores Ben Rich (33:28.5) and Kellen Levy (33:39.0).

With five of the top 10 times, the Triton men earned 36 points on the day, while Central Arizona finished second with 46. Cal Poly Pomona tallied 60 for third place, followed by Fort Lewis (116), Cal State Monterey Bay (124) and Western New Mexico (155).

The 2011 CCAA Championships are slated for Saturday, Oct. 22 at Spring Lakes Regional Park in Santa Rosa. The women’s 6k race is scheduled for 8 a.m., with the men’s 8k following at 9.

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL

Hillary Williamson and Lauren Demos combined for 26 kills to help lead the No. 16 UC San Diego women's volleyball team to a come-from-behind, five-set win over Cal State East Bay Saturday night at Pioneer Gym.

After dropping the first two sets by scores of 25-21 and 25-20, UCSD stormed back to win the next three, 25-12, 25-21 and 15-13.

Poor hitting plagued both teams as East Bay swung at .149 (57-27-201), just topping UC San Diego's .140 (55-28-193) attack percentage. Despite hitting .385 (16-1-39) in the second set, the Pioneers hit under .100 in each of the next three frames.

The Tritons dealt out eight service aces, their second-highest total of the season, and finished with a 10-dig advantage at 103 to 93.

Williamson contributed in several ways, totaling 14 kills with four aces and 26 digs, both career-highs. She also added a block to bring her point total to a match-best 19.5. Demos, a freshman middle blocker, hit .303 with 12 kills and two errors in 33 attacks.

For the 11th time this season, Roxanne Brunstin notched a double-double with 26 assists and 16 digs. In just her second match of the year, Lizzy Andrews recorded nine kills and seven digs, while Brittany Lombardi, who missed half of September due to injury, picked up 23 digs to smash her previous career-high of 14.

Katie Allen led all players with 16 kills. Two other Pioneers had double-digit kill totals as Nicole Boyle totaled 14 and Kitona Offord had 13. Five CSUEB players had 10 or more digs, including Leslie Ray with 25.

The win snapped UCSD's three-match losing streak as the Tritons improved to 11-4 overall and 7-4 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA). Cal State East Bay is now 10-6 overall and 5-6 in league action.

It was the second five-set match the Tritons have played this season. On Sept. 24, Chico State won 3-2 at RIMAC Arena.

Up next, UCSD plays another pair of CCAA matches on the road: Friday at San Francisco State and Saturday at Cal Poly Pomona. The Tritons return to RIMAC Arena on Friday, Oct. 21, as Cal State L.A. visits for a 7 p.m. match.


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