After what turned out to be a difficult pair of home matches, the road does not get any easier for Humboldt State women's soccer.
The Jacks came out on the short end of two one goal losses. The squad will have national runner-up UC San Diego and another 10-win 2012 club in Cal Poly Pomona set to be the foes in this weekend's California Collegiate Athletic Association's docket.
Jacks fall in overtime on wet opener
While the North Coast rains arrived early, the lone goal arrived late in Humboldt State's 1-0 double overtime loss to Cal State East Bay at College Creek Field on last Friday.
Despite dominating offensively for the majority of the game, the Jacks were unable to find the back of the net.
In soggy conditions produced by the first major rainstorm of the season, HSU outshot CSUEB, 21-14, but was unable to convert.
High-powered Warriors edge HSU
A defensive emphasis instituted by new head coach Paul Karver has paid off in the opening four matches.
For 50 minutes Sunday, the Humboldt State women's soccer team withstood a relentless assault by the visiting Cal State Stanislaus Warriors without any damage. But when the horn sounded 40 minutes later, the casualties were significant.
The California Collegiate Athletic Association's top team to date, the Warriors improved to 5-0-1 overall and stretched their league record to 3-0-1 with a 2-1 victory over the Lumberjacks.
Having surrendered only three goals in its first six games, the Warriors were repeatedly denied the net by the Jacks' defense, backed by a superlative effort from goalkeeper Kelly Lukas. The redshirt freshman stopped seven Warriors' shots total, including five in a scoreless first half.
Nicholas shows versatility
Due to her speed, Sydney Nicholas showed her versatility in last Sunday's match.
The senior defender switch to the attack to add speed to it and produced what would be HSU's lone score.
The goal gave her three points on the year.
HSU defense remains solid despite shot chart
The HSU defense continues to be the calling card of the 2013 team.
The Jacks held Cal State East Bay scoreless for 104:17 before falling 1-0 in double overtime.
Despite allowing a pair of tallies on Sunday, HSU held a Cal State Stanislaus offense, which had totaled 17 goals in its first five matches.
The defense has needed to be stout as it has been outshot 93-62 in six contests.
Coach Karver Comments:
On last weekend's performance:
"We came up short this weekend, we had chances to win on Friday and didn't get it done. Sunday we performed against one of the premier programs in the country but again fell short."
"We need to do a better job of playing to our level and expectations and not to that of our opponents, thats part of growing as a program."
On this weekend's matchups:
"This weekend presents its own unique challenges beyond the two great opponents in UCSD and Cal Poly Pomona, the travel will give us a short week to prepare and long bus rides are never good physically."
Coach Karver comments (cont.)
"The team is continuing to build in the right direction, we continue to stay organized defensively and the attack is starting to come together, we have to be better in the final moments and when that happens we will win more games."
Weekend's CCAA road matches
vs. UC San Diego (Fri at 7:00 p.m.):
Series History: UCSD leads 10-1-1
Last meeting: UCSD win 4-1 on Oct. 7, 2012 at Arcata
Last HSU win: 2-1 in 2010 match
Tritons 2012 record: 17-3-4
CCAA Preseason Poll: 1st in South with 11 of 12 first place votes
*Coached by 27th-year coach Brian McManus (434-67-42)
Tritons tie both
*UC San Diego is not used to having many weekends where it is not successful. Last weekend, the storied program may consider it unsuccessful when it tied both Chico State, 2-2, and CSU San Bernardino, 1-1.
*Finished the 2012 season as NCAA DII national runner-up
*Ranked 23rd in the Sept. 17th national poll
*Under coach McManus, UCSD has won two DII national titles
*Outscored opponents, 9-6 in first 6 matches
*Cassie Callahan has four of the team's 9 goals and assisted on two other ones
*Goalie Kelcie Brodsky has a 0.93 GAA and 38 saves
vs. Cal Poly Pomona (Sun. at 2:00 p.m.):
Series History: Cal Poly Pomona leads 7-4
Last meeting: CPP 2-0 win on Sept. 14, 2012 in Arcata
Last HSU win: 3-2 in 2009 at Pomona
Broncos 2012 record: 10-6-3
CCAA Preseason Poll: 3rd in South
Broncos split two shutouts
*Broncos dropped a 2-0 decision at CSU San Bernardino, before defeating Chico State, 1-0 in overtime
*Allowed only 4 goals in 6 games...all 4 wins have been 1-0 scores
*Goalie Sarah Rohman holds a 0.80 GAA
