ARCATA – California Collegiate Athletic Association play continues this week as the Humboldt State men's soccer team (5-9-2, 4-7-1) travels south to face two North Division opponents.  A 7 p.m. kickoff at Cal State Stanislaus on Friday starts the weekend.  Then on Sunday, the Jacks will be in Chico to face Chico State in a 2 p.m. start. 

The Jacks are the hottest team in the CCAA North, having won three of their last four matches.  Last weekend in San Francisco, HSU defeated SFSU, 2-1 in overtime on a Lloyd Sinclair goal at the 99:47 mark.  On Sunday the Jacks traveled to Seaside and beat CSUMB, 1-0 on a Tony Ramirez score in the 48th minute.  The wins avenged losses to both teams earlier in the season.  With the victories, Humboldt State climbed over both teams in the standings and now sits in fourth place in the North Division.

Head-to-Head
HSU leads the Warriors 26-17-1 in the all-time series. CSUS took the meeting earlier this season in Arcata, 3-1. Chico State holds a 39-13-6 all-time record against the Jacks.  In their last meeting, in Redwood Bowl on Sept. 11, HSU lost 1-0 in double overtime.

Johnson's Comments
“Our entire staff is very proud of the way the boys have overcome a difficult month of September and have been able to execute the things we have been stressing in both a tactical standpoint and from a standpoint of believing in themselves.  It is great, as a coach, to see the excitement in the play of the players.” … “This past weekend's theme was 'payback.'  We weren't looking to make many tactical changes.  We wanted to earn some respect back from teams that we hadn't preformed very well against earlier in the season.  It was great to see the boys come back from giving up an early goal (at SFSU).  The field wasn't the best either, but it was good to see them work through those difficulties and get a result.  …On Sunday (at Cal State Monterey Bay) it took us about 20 minutes to get going, but that was due to the style of game that it was.  We worked through our early difficulties and from there on out, for the next 70 minutes we had the run of play.  We were organized defensively and very creative offensively.” … “(Cal State) Stanislaus will be a difficult match-up for us.  They are a scrappy, physical team and we play more of a finesse game.   That being said they are a beatable team that embarrassed us earlier and we want to earn some respect back.” … “Chico State beat us 1-0 on a penalty kick in September.  That score came off a mistake by one of our younger players, but if we play the way we did in the first meeting, we can beat them.”

Lumberjack Notes
The Jacks are in fourth place in the CCAA North. …Junior Josh Suggs leads the Jacks' attack with eight goals and two assists for 18 points.  Six HSU players each have two goals — seniors Roland Demombynes, Tony Ramirez, Lloyd Sinclair and Ben Vasser, junior Scott Mariani and freshman Peter Darquea. …Keeper Kyle Verle is 5-8-2 while playing 1,324 minutes between the pipes.  He has allowed 23 goals, made 58 saves and has a save percentage of .716.  He has won his last three starts and earned his third clean sheet of the season at CSUMB on Sunday.  Among CCAA players, Suggs ranks in the top-10 of five categorie,s including first in shots (69), fourth in goals and tied for fifth in points.  Sinclair is tied for fifth in game-winners (2).  Verle is tied for seventh in shutouts (3) and eighth in saves among four categories in which he is in the CCAA top-10.


Opponents Notes
The Cal State Stanislaus Warriors (8-6-1, 5-6-1) are in third place in the CCAA North.  On the road last week they defeated Cal Poly Pomona, 1-0 on Friday before falling at Cal State San Bernardino, 2-1 on Sunday. …CSUS's offense is led by Victor Regalado, who has 18 points on nine goals.   Jose Velasquez has added five goals and one assist.  Javier Rosales (2-1-1, .800 save percentage) and Steven Waite (5-3-0, .658 save percentage) had split time in goal for the Warriors.  Cal State Stanislaus is led by new head coach Dana Taylor.  Taylor spent the last 10 seasons at Oregon State where his teams had an overall record of 79-98-14.  …Chico State (7-5-4, 4-4-4) is in second place in the CCAA North.  Last Friday the Wildcats earned a 2-2 tie at Cal State San Bernardino ahead of a 1-0 loss at Cal Poly Pomona on Sunday.  Chico is currently in a four-match winless streak.  …With five goals, three assists and 13 points, Evan Armstrong leads the Wildcats' offense in 2009.  Chris Akwaja has tallied four goals for eight points.  Keeper Michael Keohane has a 7-5-3 record with three shutouts and an .808 save percentage. … The Wildcats are led by second-year head coach Felipe Restrepo, whose career record was 13-5-1 entering 2009.