THE SCHEDULE
Match 1
vs. Saint Martin's (0-0, 0-0 GNAC)
Thursday, Sept. 4 • 7 p.m.
Triton Soccer Stadium • La Jolla
Live Stats

Match 2
vs. Western Washington (0-0, 0-0 GNAC)
Saturday, Sept. 6 • 7 p.m.
Triton Soccer Stadium • La Jolla
Live Stats

UCSD OPENS 2014 AT HOME WITH PAIR OF WEST REGION FOES
The UC San Diego men's soccer program, ranked ninth in the preseason by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA), embarks on its 2014 campaign at home this week against a pair of West Region foes from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC). UCSD plays host to Saint Martin's on Thursday, Sept. 4, and Western Washington on Saturday, Sept. 6. Kickoff at Triton Soccer Stadium is set for 7 p.m. on each night. All regular-season matches at Triton Soccer Stadium are free to attend, and will have live stats.

UCSD is coming off of its greatest season since moving up from the NCAA Division III to Division II in 2000. The Tritons finished 14-3-5 overall and 11-2-3 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA), reaching both the CCAA Championship and NCAA West Region title matches. The 14 overall wins were UCSD's most under seventh-year head coach Jon Pascale, most in the Division II era, and most in exactly two decades, since the 1993 Division III national championship side finished 21-2-1. The 11 CCAA victories reflected a program record. The Tritons were 7-1-3 in La Jolla in 2013.

CCAA PRESEASON POLL
In the CCAA's annual preseason poll, league head coaches picked UCSD to finish fifth, with 14th-ranked Cal State L.A. the favorite to repeat its 2013 conference title. The Tritons garnered one of the 12 first-place votes.

NEW YEAR, NEW FORMAT IN CCAA
The CCAA has made changes to its regular-season and tournament formats in men's and women's soccer for the 2014 season. The six-team, two-division alignment is no more, now with just one 12-team league table. Rather than a 16-game regular-season schedule with two matches against divisional opponents and one against out-of-division foes, each team will face one another once, for a total of 11 CCAA contests. The top six teams in the final standings advance to the CCAA Championship, up from four in prior years. The first- and second-place finishers get first-round byes, with those two games held at campus sites of the higher seeds. The venue for the 2014 CCAA Championship semifinals and final has yet to be determined.

NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
UCSD begins the 2014 campaign exactly where it left off in 2013 in terms of the NSCAA poll. The association released its preseason listing back on Aug. 7. The Tritons got as far up as No. 6 during its exceptional 2013 run, its highest position in the national poll of the Division II era.

PREMIER DEFENSE
UCSD has boasted one of the top five defenses nationally in the NCAA Division II in terms of team goals-against average in each of the last two seasons. The Tritons led the country in the category in 2012 with a CCAA-record mark of 0.44, and finished fourth in 2013 at a 0.52 clip. UCSD has allowed no more than a single goal over its past 26 games going back to a 3-0 loss at Cal State Dominguez Hills on Oct. 14, 2012, and has posted 22 shutouts over its last 38. The Tritons produced five 1-0 victories in 2012 and six more in 2013.

ROSTER NOTES
UCSD will need to replace 10 departed seniors from the 2013 squad, including seven starters and three All-Americans. Out of that 2013 defense, gone are center backs Alec Arsht and Gavin Lamming, and goalkeeper Josh Cohen. Junior net-minder Cameron McElfresh steps into the fray to take over for the 2012 and 2013 CCAA Most Valuable Defensive Player. Senior Matthew McClure and redshirt sophomore Brett Sampiere (Solana Beach/Torrey Pines HS) will reprise their starting roles somewhere along the backline. Senior Brandon Baumanhas changed to the No. 10 shirt and takes over offensive playmaking duties from All-American midfield generalAndisheh Bagheri. A fourth starter returning from 2013 is senior striker Alessandro Canale, who tallied five goals in his first go-around as a Triton a year ago. Sampiere and Canale each earned All-CCAA honorable mention at the end of last season.

Among 27 players in all on the 2014 roster are 15 returners and 12 newcomers. Joining McClure, Bauman and McClure in the senior class are A.J. Beloff, Jacob Valadez and Nick Roberts. Roberts is a fifth-year UCSD student and outside defender who made his decision to return to the program to use his final season of eligibility only after playing opposite his current mates in the alumni game late last spring. Besides Sampiere, the only other San Diego products are freshman winger Zachary Lagotta (Cathedral Catholic HS) and goalkeeper Dean Meltz (Torrey Pines HS), a junior transfer who spent last year at MiraCosta College.

FOR OPENERS
UCSD is 10-3-1 in season openers in the Division II era. The Tritons won 2-1 in overtime at California Baptist in 2013.

HEAD COACH JON PASCALE
Jon Pascale, now a two-time CCAA Coach of the Year through back-to-back honors in 2012 and 2013, has posted a 58-36-19 (.597) overall record in his six seasons in charge of the UCSD men's soccer program. A 1-0 home victory over Sonoma State on Sept. 29, 2013, gave him career win No. 50, while a 2-0 triumph at Cal State Stanislaus in the very next match on Oct. 4 marked his 100th contest at the Triton helm. Pascale directed his first postseason tilt on Nov. 8 of last year in Turlock, a come-from-behind, 2-1 overtime triumph over rival Chico State in a CCAA Championship semifinal. He made his NCAA Championship debut as a head coach on Nov. 16, 2013, in La Jolla.

ABOUT THE SAINTS
Saint Martin's was picked to finish sixth in the eight-team GNAC in that league's preseason coaches' poll. The Saints, who hail from Lacey, Wash., went 5-11-2 overall and 5-7-2 in league play in 2013. SMU brings back seven starters from that squad for head coach Rob Walker.

SERIES HISTORY
UCSD and Saint Martin's have only met once previously in men's soccer, that a 1-0 Saints victory in La Jolla on Sept. 3, 2011. Current senior SMU goalie JJ Olson made four saves to earn the clean sheet, with the deciding goal coming at the 82:24 mark.

ABOUT THE VIKINGS
Western Washington is favored to place third behind 2012 and 2013 NCAA Division II West Region champion and national semifinalist Simon Fraser in the GNAC this season. The Vikings, from Bellingham, Wash., went 11-4-3 overall and 9-2-3 in league play, ending their campaign with a commanding 3-0 victory over SFU. Head coach Greg Brisbon is back for his second season in charge. Senior goalkeeper Keegan Rogers leads a group of three returning All-GNAC performers on the defensive side. Rogers led the league in 2013 in save percentage and goals-against average.

SERIES HISTORY
UCSD leads the series, 2-1. Most recently, the Tritons edged the Vikings, 2-1, midway through the 2006 season in La Jolla on Sept. 20 on a Tony Choi brace. UCSD previously blanked WWU in Bellingham, 2-0, on Sept. 7, 2005. To open the 2001 campaign on Aug. 30, the Vikings edged the Tritons in La Jolla, 1-0 in overtime.

GEAR HERE
UCSD Athletics has partnered with Advanced-Online to provide a web-based, on-demand option for UCSD apparel and merchandise. Fans have access to over 600 products that can be processed and shipped within 24 hours. Visit the site at UCSDTritonsGear.com.

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UP NEXT
Should the Tritons advance through Sunday's quarterfinal round, the NCAA Championship will take a week off for Thanksgiving before concluding with the semifinals and final, in Evans, Ga., Dec. 5 and 7.

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