ARCATA – After playing well but coming away with a tie and a loss last week, the Humboldt State men's soccer team (2-7-3, 2-6-2 CCAA) hope their good play will pay off in wins this week in southern California. Friday the Jacks are in Carson to take on the Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m. Then on Sunday the location changes to Los Angeles and the opponent to the Golden Eagles of Cal State Los Angeles with an 11:30 a.m. start time.
Last week HSU hosted the top two teams in the North Division of the CCAA. They tied second-place Cal State Stanislaus on Friday 0-0 and fell to Chico State, the first place side, 1-2 on Sunday.
Live Stats
All Lumberjack home soccer matches can be tracked online by using the Live Stats feature on hsujacks.com. Real time statistics and other information are featured on the game viewer. The feature can be found at: http://www.sidearmstats.com/humboldt/msoc/.
Head-to-Head
Against Cal State Dominguez Hills, the Lumberjacks trail in the all-time series 1-5-0. The Toros took last season's meeting 2-1 in Redwood Bowl. As members of the CCAA, CSUDH has taken three of the four meetings. HSU won 1-0 in 2006, in Carson, but haven't found the win column since. … Humboldt State's record against Cal State Los Angeles is 2-3. Last season CSULA came to Arcata as the undefeated and No. 1 ranked team in the nation, but left after a 3-0 pounding. This will be the third time these two teams have met in Los Angeles. The Jacks have never won there, dropping 2-3 and 0-1 decision in 2007 and 2003 respectively.
Johnson's Comments
“I was please with our play last weekend. I felt defensively we played very well in both games. On Friday, against (Cal State) Stanislaus we didn't have much offensive production, but we were organized, solid defensively and didn't find a way to loose. They are a good team, top of the table, and we knocked them down a notch with the result (0-0 tie). On Sunday we got the statistical offensive production we are looking for. But as anyone who knows soccer will tell you, you can outperform your opponent and still not come away with a win. That is what happened to us. All in all I felt it was a good weekend and hope it will give us momentum going forward.” … “When you are playing (Cal State) Dominguez Hills and (Cal State) Los Angeles at their places you are in for a very difficult weekend. Dominguez (Hills) is in a rebuilding year. They have lost some key people to injury and graduation, but a rebuilding year for them or (CSU) Los Angeles is something entirely different from what other programs go through. They really are just reloading.” … “Dominguez Hills is always very organized and have very creative players. They play with a tremendous amount of pride and heart. They are scrappy and don't give games away. You truly have to play at your highest level to beat them.” … “LA has been ranked No. 1 this season. Every year is a little different with them. They get a lot of foreign players and go after JC kids a lot. So year in and year out you never quite know what to expect of them as far as personnel. They are going to be very talented. Again, we have to have our best game to get a good result and if we play the way we did on Sunday we will have a chance.”
Lumberjack Notes
HSU is 2-7-3 overall and 2-6-2 in CCAA play - 5th in the North Division. … Senior Josh Suggs leads the Jacks attack with four goals and an assist on 58 shots. His 18 career goals have him in sole possession of eighth place on the program's all-time list. Next up is Lalo Serrano in seventh place with 19 goals. Tim Haden, a senior defender, is the Jacks second leading scorer with two goals and four points. Senior Ray Lind and freshman Quintin Aguilar have the team's two game-winning goals, a 3-2 win over Cal Poly Pomona and 2-1 result over Cal State Monterey Bay, respectively. Redshirt freshman Michael Powell has two assists. … Keeper Kyle Verle, who has started 11 matches, is 2-6-3 while playing just over 1,067 minutes. He has made 46 saves on the 61 shots that have been on frame. His goals against average (gaa) is 1.26 and save percentage .754. … Among CCAA athletes, Suggs leads the conference in shots (58) and shots per game (4.83). His four goals are good for a tie for ninth. Verle's 1.26 gaa is 10th in the CCAA and his .754 save percentage ranks ninth. He is third in saves (46), fifth in saves per game (4.18) and tied for eighth with two shutouts.
Opponents Notes
The Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros (7-2-3, 6-2-2 CCAA – 1st place South Division) last week, at home, tied UC San Diego 0-0 and defeated Cal State East Bay 3-0. Andre Turoldo (4 g, 5 a, 13 pts) leads the Toros' offense. Greg Piechota (4 g, 4 a, 12 pts) and Scott Locken (5 g, 1 a, 11 pts, 2 gwg) also contribute. Markus Dickerson, the CSUDH keeper with the majority of minutes played, has made 31 saves on 40 shots for a gaa of 0.86 and a save percentage of .775. His record is 6-2-3. Joe Flanagan, in his 17th season, leads the Toros. … Cal State Los Angeles (7-4-0, 6-4-0 CCAA – 3rd place South Division) defeated Cal State East Bay 4-0, but lost to UC San Diego 0-1 last week at home. Julian Ringhof (3 g, 6 pts, 1 gwg) and Taylor Rivas (3 g, 6 pts, 2 gwg) top the Golden Eagles attack. James Irwin has played the majority of minutes in goal. He has made 16 saves on 24 shots. His gaa is 1.00 and he has a 5-3-0 record. Cal State Los Angeles is led by eighth year head coach Chris Chamides.
