2012 Big West Men's Soccer Tournament

The seeds have been set and the Big West Tournament begins today.  Representing the North Division is UC Davis and Cal Poly and representing the South Division is Cal State Northridge and Cal State Fullerton. The matchups are as follows:

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012 2:00 PM
S2. Fullerton vs N1. UC Davis

This matchup that happened one month ago ended in a 2-1 win for UC Davis.  However, Fullerton's Ian Ramos will be the key in this matchup.  The freshman phenom has been outstanding this season, collecting 5 points and 3 assists, averaging 2.3 shots/game.  The Aggies however, have been a much more well rounded team, depending on the conference's top defense and outstanding goalkeeping by Omar Zeenni (who averages under a goal/game).  I'm going to give advantage to the defense here:

My Prediction: Aggies win 1-0

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012 7:00 PM
N2. Cal Poly vs S1. Northridge

These two teams are very evenly matched by looking at the in-conference statistics and it shows by their lone matchup this year (a 1-0 victory for the Matadors).  Northridge's Segi Lev-Ari and Mackenzie Pridam have been goal machines, collecting 12 and 11 goals each respectively.  The goalkeepers (all three of them) have been also instrumental for how well the teans have done.  While Northridge won the earlier match, Cal Poly has more momentum going right now, beating UCSB twice in front of large crowds, thus sealing their playoffs.

My Prediction: Cal Poly 2, Northridge 1 (OT)

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2012 1:00 PM
*Cal Poly vs *UC Davis
Considering that two of Davis' three losses came to the Mustangs, I don't see that trend changing...

My Prediction: Cal Poly wins 1-0


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Cal State Fullerton Basketball Preview

Continuing with the video previews, up next is the Titans preview.  If you haven't predicted right now, my speaking formula is: Rank in BWC Media Preseason Poll, Impact Player, Probable Starters and Non-Conference Schedule with a prediction at the end.  Enjoy and leave your comments below.



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Big West Tournament Preview: Women's Soccer

The seeds are set and playoffs begin tonight for the Big West crown.  Tonight's semifinals take place at Anteater Stadium at UCI beginning at 5:00 PM.

Semifinal No. 1: No. 2 Cal State Northridge vs No. 3 Cal Poly, 5:00 PM
This matchup is an intriguing one: Northridge held their playoff position by knocking out the defending BWC champs LBSU in double overtime, while Cal Poly was conference leader until the final weekend.  History is on the Mustangs side as Cal Poly is 7-0-1 in semifinals all-time while Northridge has never won a semifinals match.  However, Northridge is riding all the momentum off that LBSU win.  Head-to-head this season, the Matadors and the Mustangs drew 2-2, and we can expect more of the same for tonight's matchup.  However, I expect Goalkeeper of the Year, Cynthia Jacobo, in her senior year to lead the Matadors to their first Big West postseason victory.

My Prediction: Northridge 2, Cal Poly 0

Semifinal No. 2: No. 1 Cal State Fullerton vs. No. 4 UCI, 7:30 PM
Who's ready for an upset?  UCI comes in riding a 0-1-3 "safe" record to keep their last seed.  Home-field advantage is a powerful thing though, especially in soccer.   UCI also won the only matchup between these two this season, 3-1 at Fullerton.  Fullerton's Stacey Fox has been averaging 1.00 PPG, however, if she can be shut down like UCI did earlier, the Titans will have big problems beating what seems to be a desperate team that needs just a spark of life.

My Prediction: UCI 1, Fullerton 0

Final: No. 2 Northridge vs No. 4 UCI
My Prediction: Northridge 1, UCI 1 (Northridge wins 4-3 on Penalties)

Below is where you can follow the matches LIVE:

Semifinals • November 1	Time	Story	Media
No. 2 Cal State Northridge vs. No. 3 Cal Poly	5:00 pm	Recap	Live Stats  Radio - CSUN
No. 1 Cal State Fullerton vs. No. 4 UC Irvine	7:30 pm	Recap	Live Stats  Radio - CSF
Finals • November 4	Time
Winner of Match 1 vs. Winner of Match 2	1:00 pm	Recap	FOX Prime Ticket  Live Stats

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Wahine volleyball hit the road this week

The University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team hit the road yesterday to embark on a three match road trip starting on Wednesday against Cal State Northridge at 7pm PTin the Matadome. This will be the first conference match in the Big West for the Wahine since they left the conference back in 1996. The Matadors enter the match with a 9-3 record with wins against Arizona and Texas Tech. Natalie Allen leads the team in kills with 89 and has a .320 hitting pct. They will face the toughest opponent this season with the seventh ranked Rainbow Wahine(7-2).

Hawai'i will then play at UC Riverside on Friday Sept. 21 at 7pm PT in the SRC Arena. The Highlanders started the season strong going 3-1 only to struggle as of late as they are currently 5-8. Amanda Vialpando leads the team in kills per set with 3.24 and is ninth in kills in the Big West. Freshman Emily Borges is second in the conference in service aces with 19. In fact UCR leads the Big West in service aces per set with 1.77.

Finally, the Rainbow Wahine close out their long road trip with a stop at Fullerton, CA to face the Titans. They will play Saturday night Sept. 22 at 7pm PT in Titan Gym. Kayla Neto is sixth in the Big West in kills averaging 3.93 per set. CSUF has a 6-7 record with wins at Nevada and SMU.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Karen Bardsley

The Fullerton alumnus just completed another clean sheet as Great Britain shocked Brazil with a 1-0 upset victory to win Group E.  Bardsley was unstoppable as Brazil tried to pile on the pressure (21 total shots, 8 on goal).  The American-born English player looked confident and focused the whole game as she posted her third straight shutout in Olympic competition.  Next up? Bardsley and company will be playing Canada in the knockout round with a potential to face a dominant American team in the semifinals.

Big West Confidential Player Profile
Name: Karen Bardsley
College: Cal State Fullerton (2002-2006)
Pro Club: Linköpings F.C. (Sweden)
Statistics: Squeaky clean, enjoys zeros
Next Match: Women's Soccer Quarterfinals: GBR vs CAN, August 3 7:30 PM (London Time)

NCAA Regionals: Cal State Fullerton fails to advance out of Eugene

Cal State Fullerton came into the NCAA Regionals hoping to make it to the Super Regionals.  They came into the Regionals on a small slump having to take 2 of 3 from LBSU to win the conference and even up their last 6 games to .500 ball.

The first match the Titans played was against the Sycamores of Indiana State.  Cal State opened up to a 5-1 lead before the Sycamores led a charge to tie the game in the top of the 6th to 5-5.  With a run in the bottom of the 6th and 3 more in the bottom of the 8th, the Titans finished off Indiana State by a score of 9-5. Ivory Thomas led the Titans with 3 RBI's in that game.

The second game pitted Fullerton against the hosting Ducks.  An uncharacteristic bad start by Dylan Floro led to Oregon taking a 6-0 lead before the Titans fought back.  Fullerton couldn't finish the comeback however, dropping the game 7-5 against the Ducks and finding themselves having to face the surprise Austin Peay in the elimination game.  Michael Lorenzen led the way for the Titans with a 3-run Home Run.

In the elimination match, Fullerton fell to the Governors of Austin Peay.  J.D. Davis pitched 6 fantastic innings before Willie Kuhl gave up a run in the 8th, and Austin Peay never looked back.  Offensively, the Titans couldn't get anything going, earning only 3 hits and no runs as Austin Peay beat Fullerton by a score of 3-0.

Even though, they failed to make it to the Super-Regionals, you have to respect what dominance Fullerton has had in baseball, not breaking their tournament streak, even under first-year head coach Rick Vanderhook.  There's no reason not to have continuous high expectations for Titan baseball in the future.

Dirtbags 5, Titans 1 --- LBSU's win sets up tomorrow's finale perfectly

Welp.

I thought that Friday's win would've sealed the regional host site.   With yesterday's loss though (it's past midnight as I'm writing this), the Titans probably will have to find themselves having to win to get that auto bid and host site.

One night after Floro took down the Dirtbags, Ryan Strufing returned the favor with an outstanding outing himself.  The sophomore pitched 8.2 innings, gave up an earned run on 5 hits, walking 2 and striking out 6.  Offensively, Metzger led the way with a three run shot, while Juan Avila continued his dominance of Titan pitching with 3 hits and two RBI's on his own.  Johnny Bekakis contributed to the Dirtbag hit parade with 2 hits on his own.

Offensively for the Titans, Matt Orloff and Carlos Lopez provided 4 of the 5 singles that Fullerton got.  Outside of that, Lorenzen's fielder's choice helped avoid the shutout.  Titan reliever Jose Cardonan played damage control however, as he pitched 3 shutout innings to force LBSU to rely on their pitching to get the job done.  With 2 on and 2 away in the 9th and players on the corners for the Titans, Kyle Friedrichs took over for the Strufing and struck out JD Davis for the final out.

This leads us to our final game of the season, later today, at 1:00 pm at Blair Field.  It's Senior Day and to celebrate, the Dirtbags will be sending Shawn Stuart (7-0, 2.21 ERA) against Kenny Matthews (5-2, 4.09 ERA).  My prediction for this game? 2-1 LBSU in 10 innings.




Note: this post will serve as the open thread for the remainder of this weekend.  Comment if you dare!

Cal State Fullerton 4, Long Beach State 0 -- Titans take Round 1

The Titans Dylan Floro was unstoppable tonight pitching a complete game shutout, giving up only six hits, while issuing 1 walk and 5 strikeouts.  Offensively, Carlos Lopez provided a quarter of Fullerton's hits, going 2-4 with 1 walk and 1 RBI.  The Dirtbags provided charity by gifting the Titans with 2 errors that eventually led to runs in the 6th.  LBSU had a couple of bright spots on offense however, as Juan Avila and Matt Duffy provided 2/3rds of the Dirtbags' hits.

This win should assure Fullerton a host site for the NCAA regionals, as they entered this week ranked No. 12.  LBSU can still win this series and the conference by winning the next two days, but they have to score runs.  The final two games of the series are tomorrow at 5:30 pm and Sunday at 1:00 pm.

Tomorrow's probables will feature red shirt freshman Grahamm Wiest pitching for the Titans vs. and Ryan Strufing for the Dirtbags.

Can the Dirtbags pull themselves together or will the Titans reign over the Big West in glory again?

Fullerton-LBSU Series Preview: What's At Stake?

The No. 12 Cal State Fullerton Titans are playing the Long Beach State 49ers (nickname: the Dirtbags) in what should be a thrilling conference series finale.  The Titans currently hold a one game lead over the Dirtbags heading into this weekend’s action, but there are many who believe that the scrappy Dirtbags will pull the upset and steal the auto-bid.  Which brings us to the question: Will Fullerton get an at-large bid if they lose the series?

As of May 15^th, the Titans are ranked No. 15 according to NCAA Baseball RPI Standings.  The Dirtbags are sitting at No. 59 for those of you who are comparing head-to-head rankings.  The next closest Big West team is Cal Poly at No. 85.  Being that the Titans are in a mini-slump right now, it is very possible for the Dirtbags to take the conference by surprise and end up on top.  If this happens, I firmly believe that Fullerton will get an at-large bid into the Regionals.  Whether or not they can get a host site, depends on how they play this week against the Dirtbags (win or lose).  If the Titans get swept this weekend, at worst, I can envision them in a No. 3 seed.  However, if the Titans go 1-2, they might be still ranked high enough to get a Regional host site.  Remember, all of this is assuming that Fullerton will lose the conference title this week.

On the other hand, if Fullerton wins the conference title, the Titans will most assuredly be given a host site.  However, this scenario brings up a very interesting situation for the Dirtbags.  As I’ve stated earlier, the NCAA RPI ranks them at 59 (this was before last week’s series win over Pacific).  If the Dirtbags don’t get blown out, and salvage a win, I feel that they could end up as a No. 4 seed in some regional.  If the Titans sweep the Dirtbags though, it’s sayonara for LBSU and they’ll be watching the College World Series instead of participating.  Can LBSU get any higher than a No. 4 seed?  Only if they win the conference title, and even then, it’s a stretch…unless of course, the secret council of the highly supreme NCAA RPI mathematicians value the Big West so highly in baseball that LBSU gets a generous seeding.   Whatever the case, 49er fans will have a lot to root for this week, while Titan fans will be rooting for their pride.

"Playoffs? PLAYOFFS? You kidden' me? PLAYOFFS?"

Yes...playoffs, college basketball playoffs for that.  Why are we back talking about basketball playoffs? Because while we had the open threads and some coverage, we really had no closure of the teams who made the different playoffs.  So thank you to those who reminded me that I needed to finish, this one's for you.

Morning Links 3/8/12

Happy Thor's Day everyone! You ready for the men's Big West Tourney today?  Let's get linked to start the day:

SB Nation continues it's bracket coverage of Big West tourney, reminds 49ers fans that Gauchos exist to cause misery for them
Seriously though, it's a good reminder of when the games will be taking place for your entertainment. Not sure how much coverage there will be (but that's why you're reading this blog, right?).

LBSU's tournament preview
...provided by gazettes.com.  It's actually a really good in depth article about what happened last Saturday and what needs to happen this weekend.

Fullerton looks to crash the party...
They already started, but this article gives an interesting take on where these kids started from two years ago.

Preview of Pacifc vs UCSB
The big question lies here, can the Gauchos make it to the Dance for the third year in a row?

Cal Poly has a high morale about this tournament, plays UCR tonight
The Mustangs play in the late night game tonight and are using last years overtime upset to motivate them

Preview of UCI-CSU Fullerton match
The OC rivalry continues tonight, but with Fullerton riding high over their win against LBSU...no one expects the Anteaters to pull off the upset.

No. 7 Arizona rallies in bottom of the eighth, beats Davis 6-4
That would have been a great upset if the Aggies could've held on...but the Wildcats are ranked No. 7 for a reason.

UCR sweeps Eastern Kentucky, UCD loses to top ranked Cal in softball
The big news here is that the Highlanders hit 6 HR in their double header yesterday.  The Aggies need to get a strength of schedule award, and really need to start getting wins.

We're going to try something new here in a little bit, but in the meantime...see something I missed? Comment below!

Introducing the Big West Teams: Cal State University, Fullerton

Over the next few weeks, I'm going to introduce the current members of the Big West conference.  This introduction will focus on the school, the fans, the athletics and other random trivial facts.  Hopefully, this will be an educational and fun introduction.  Of course, if you the alumni/fan of that team would like to correct me, feel free to do so in the comment section below or shoot me an email.
With that, allow me to introduce (in alphabetical order) the next member of the current Big West Conference: Cal State Fullerton Titans.

Morning Links 3/1/12

Where's the time gone? It's already the first of March!  Here are some links to occupy your computer during breakfast-time:

Big West Tourney: 49ers to face Aggies in the first round
While this was predictable last week, it's nice to know that it will be official.  Now that being said, here's what happened last night:

LBSU dominates UCI in final home game of the season
Caspar Ware had 16 points and T.J. Robinson had his 53rd career double-double in what turned into an old fashioned beatdown.

Titans beat Matadors to set up for a huge Saturday night
Kwame Vaughn went 5-11 from the arc to carry Fullerton to victory.

The Sacramento Bee points out that the Aggie women can host the tourney opener with two wins
Which poses the question: why aren't the women's tourney openers hosted at the Honda Center as well.

UCSB hosts Pacific tonight at the Thunderdome
The Gauchos will look to continue fighting for the No. 2 seed in the tournament.  On a less serious note, does anyone else but me think that the Big West teams have the coolest names for their arenas?

Well that's it for this morning.  As usual, if you feel that I missed something, comment below.

Morning Links 2/29/12

Happy Leap Day and actual last day of February!  Here are some links to read for your slow Wednesday:

Preview of UCI-LBSU game
Anteaters travel to the Walter Pyramid in hopes of blemishing the 49ers perfect conference record.

Preview of the Northridge-Fullerton game
Biggest question to be answered in my opinion: will the Titans fall to another bottom feeder?

Honda Center and the Big West name ampm official convieniece store
Does this mean that we can get Hostess pies and Rockstar's during the tourney because I would be all over that!

WBB: Pacific beats 49ers
The Tigers shot well from behind the 3-pt line (47.4%), and from behind the free throw line (although 62.1% is not a good percentage at all from the line).

Baseball recaps from Tuesday's games
Biggest news is that Pacific won their first game of the season against Sacramento State racking up 18 hits and 13 runs.

Did you see anything I missed?  Comment below!

Morning Links 2/27/12

The weekend is over and there is a lot of news to go over, so lets hop to it:

LBSU clinches conference title with low scoring, but dominating effort over UCR
If "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting" I hate to think what the conference tourney is going to be like...

Davis beats Fullerton in shocking victory
If you had watched this game, Davis started out on a 12-0 run and never looked back.  If Fullerton wants to have a shot at LBSU in the conference tourney, they better look more alive than last Saturday night.

Lady Mustangs win a share of the title over in Women's BB
Interesting to note that the only team that can share with them is the team that they beat (Northridge).

Gauchos move into a tie for second as they beat Cal Poly
The Blue-Green rivalry intensified as UCSB evened up the season series to 1 a piece.  Orlando Johnson had 16 points to become UCSB's all-time leading scorer.

The Big Vote occurs all this week
It's an older article but relevant specifically to this week as UCSD students are voting to either move the Tritons to Div I (and with that the Big West) or keep them in Div II.   UCSD is the largest academic institution with an athletics program not in Div I.

Baseball weekend recaps
Fullerton takes the series from the Horned Frogs, Gauchos sweep the Spartans, Dirtbags beat Cal to take the series, Mustangs sweep LMU, Aggies drop series to CSU-Bakersfield, Anteaters go 1-2 against Washington, Pacific falls to the San Diego schools, UCR falls hard to ASU, goes 1-2 in the series.

UCI Invitational: UCLA upsets Stanford in final
In actual Big West news: it wasn't a great showing as UCI was the highest placed BWC team (9th).

Softball weekend recaps
Gauchos split their games in the Gaucho Classic I, Cal Poly splits their games, LBSU and Northridge drop both their matches in the Cathedral City Classic, UCR goes 3-1 in the aTen Construction Tournament

As always, leave your comments below, especially if I missed something.

Big West Baseball: One week done in the season with a big weekend coming up

We are one week done with the season and so far, the teams have not really managed to follow the Preseason Poll.  Only 4 games have been played though, with a huge slate of 3 game series this weekend.  Let's look at them:

Cal Poly (3-1): @Loyola Marymount (Feb 24-26)
UC Davis (3-1): @Cal State Bakersfield (Feb 24-26)
UC Irvine (3-1): vs Washington (Feb 24-26)
Cal State Northridge (2-2): vs Northwestern (Feb 25-26, Feb 24 game was cancelled)
LBSU (2-2): vs Cal (Feb 24-26)
UC Riverside (2-2): @ASU (Feb 24-26)
Cal State Fullerton (1-2): vs TCU (Feb 24-26)
UCSB (1-3): @San Jose State (Feb 24-26)
Pacific (0-5): @USD (Feb 24, 26) @SDSU (Feb 25)

So what can we predict from the outcomes? The big ones obviously are UCR traveling to Tempe to take on the No. 13 Sun Devils and the Titans hosting No. 15 TCU.  Both of these series' will obviously be a success if UCR and Fullerton can take 2 of 3 or sweep, reestablishing Big West competitiveness against other western conferences.  Cal Poly is going to take on a very tough LMU (2-1) who scores a lot of runs, but gives up a lot as well.  The Aggies are going to have a challenge themselves against potential future Big West members Cal State Bakersfield (3-1).  The Roadrunners have outscored their opponents (Kansas State and Fresno State) 24-11.  The Anteaters are facing off against a high octane Washington (2-2) team who, like LMU give up runs as much as they score: the Huskies have scored and given up 29 through 4 games.  If UCI can force Washington in a pitchers duel, I can see them winning the series.  Due to weather conditions in the Midwest, the first game of the three game series between the Matadors and the Wildcats (1-2) was cancelled.  However, Northridge should like their chances as Northwestern didn't fare so well in the Big Ten/Big East Challenge.  LBSU will have to play their best if they want to win against Cal (3-0).  However Cal beat up on Pacific, so they haven't really been tested yet.  UCSB has a very evenly matched series with the Spartans (1-3) who have seemed to have a hard time finding an offensive rhythm.  Pacific looks to gain their first win against either USD (2-2) or future Big West mates SDSU (1-4).  Look for the Tigers to gain that first win against the Aztecs because the Toreros put the whipping on KSU 15-1 in their last game.

Good luck to all Big West teams this weekend.

Morning Links 2/24/12

Morning all, here's your daily dose of that all important sports page of internet Big West news:

Titans pull out win at Pacific
Cal State Fullerton won the match with 13 seconds left to keep pace for second.  Talk about hanging by a thread...

A full day of softball action has a whole bunch of recaps
Between the Gaucho Classic and the Cathedral City Classic, the Big West teams have started off towards the right direction, with UCSB sweeping No. 23 Houston, Pacific beating No. 21 Oklahoma State and LBSU splitting their games.

Pacific loses a close one at USD against No. 21 Oregon State
It was the top three batters that kept the Tigers in this game going 6-14 with 2 doubles and 6 of the 7 RBIs