UCLA Men's Soccer Team Hosts Cal State Fullerton Sunday
By Pac-12 Conference
This Week - Head coach Todd Saldana's UCLA men's soccer team (2-2-1, ranked No. 7 by Soccer America and No. 22 by the NSCAA) will host Cal State Fullerton (2-1-1, ranked No. 16 by Soccer America and No. 21 by the NSCAA) at Frank W. Marshall Field on Sunday, Sept. 23 at 3:00 pm.
About The Opponent - Cal State Fullerton has played to overtime in three of its four contests. One of those overtime games was a 2-1 upset win over eighth-ranked Clemson. The Titans' lone loss came at the hands of 14th-ranked Stanford. Cameron McKinnon leads the team with two goals. Sean Giudice is tied with McKinnon for the team lead in points with four. Goalkeeper Jeff McKeever holds a 1.30 goals against average with 22 saves in four games.
The Series With Fullerton - UCLA leads the overall series with Cal State Fullerton, 24-7-2. Although the Titans have won four of the last five contests, all four of those victories were at Fullerton. UCLA won the last meeting in Westwood, 2-1 in overtime Nov. 7, 1999. In fact, UCLA has not lost to Cal State Fullerton at home since 1987, a home winning streak of six games.
Bruins In The Rankings - The Bruins remained at No. 7 in the Soccer America Top 20. The NSCAA did not conduct a new poll this week due to the many cancellations of games last week. UCLA was 22nd in last week's poll.
Recapping UCLA's Last Game - UCLA fell to UC Irvine, 1-0 in the Bruins' home opener Sept. 17. Irvine's ninth-minute goal held up for the following 81 minutes to give the Anteaters the victory. Goalkeeper Zach Wells made seven saves in the contest.
Pierce Earns Multiple Honors - Junior forward Tim Pierce (Dana Point, Calif.) had a standout week during the USF diadora Classic Sept. 7-9, scoring two goals en route to earning Tournament MVP honors at the diadora Classic. Pierce scored the game's second goal in the Bruins' 4-0 win over San Francisco and then recorded the game-winner in the 1-0 win over Santa Clara. Pierce also earned Pac-10 Player of the Week honors for the first time in his career. The conference honor was UCLA's fifth in the Pac-10's two-year history of men's soccer.
Pac-10 Leaders - After two weeks of play in the 2001 season, several Bruins ranked amongst the Pac-10 leaders in different categories. In stats prior to Monday's game, Tim Pierce led in points (6), goals (3), points per game (1.5) and goals per game (0.75). Pierce and Dru Hoshimiya (South Pasadena, Calif.) stood tied for first in game-winning goals with one each. Leonard Griffin (Palmdale, Calif.) and Jimmy Frazelle (Folsom, Calif.) were tied for first in assists (2 apiece) and assists per game (0.5). Zach Wells (Costa Mesa, Calif.) is first in saves (25) and saves per game (6.25). Wells also ranks 18th nationally in saves per game.
Alex Yi Selected As Hermann Trophy Candidate - Defender Alex Yi (Easton, Md./Bradenton Academy) was selected as a nominee for the Hermann Trophy, college soccer's longest-standing player of the year award. Yi was the 2000 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year and a second-team All-Pac-10 selection a year ago. He was one of just three players to start all 19 of UCLA's games in 2000.
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