COMING UP:
San Francisco Dons (3-9-0, 1-0-0) vs. Pacific Tigers (1-10-0, 0-1-0)
Friday, Oct. 16, 7 p.m. | Negoesco Stadium (3,000)
Series Record: USF leads, 21-0-0
Last Meeting: USF won, 4-1; Nov. 13, 2014 at Pacific
Coverage: Live Stats | TheW.tv
San Francisco Dons (3-9-0, 1-0-0) vs. Saint Mary's Gaels (4-7-1, 1-0-0)
Sunday, Oct. 18, 3 p.m. | Negoesco Stadium (3,000)
Series Record: USF leads, 30-14-5
Last Meeting: USF won, 2-1; Oct. 31, 2014 at SMC
Coverage: Live Stats | TheW.tv
Complete Game Notes
SAN FRANCISCO -- The Dons (3-9-0, 1-0-0) continue their West Coast Conference slate with a pair of home matches against Pacific on Friday at 7 p.m. and Saint Mary's on Sunday at 3 p.m. Friday's match will be just the fourth home contest for the Dons this season, and first since Sept. 24. Looking beyond this weekend, USF will travel to the Pacific Northwest to take on Gonzaga (Oct. 30) and Portland (Nov. 1). LAST TIME OUT: The Dons are coming off a wild 2-1 victory at Santa Clara this past Sunday to open up WCC play. All three goals were scored in the final eight minutes of action. Santiago Digiuseppe put the Dons on the board with his second goal of the season in the 82nd minute. But a penalty in the USF box in the 85th minute setup a PK chance that the Broncos converted to tie the score at 1-1. Just as the match looked headed for overtime, David Garrett took a long pass from Digiuseppe and was left wide open as he netted the game winner in the 90th minute with just 23 seconds remaining in regulation to lift the Dons to a 2-1 victory. NOTES AND TIDBITS• USF's 2-1 win at Santa Clara on Sunday was the Dons' first road victory of the season• David Garrett leads the Dons with three goals this season• Davi Ramos and Aaron Lombardi are the only Dons to have started every match they've played in (9 starts apiece)• Hunter Ashworth will miss the next few weeks after joining the New Zealand U-17 national team in the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Santiago, Chile • The Dons' match at No. 21 New Mexico on Sept. 30 was their third against a ranked team this season• USF's 13 goals have been scored by seven different players• Their match against CSU Bakersfield (Sept. 24) was the Dons' first overtime contest of the season• No Dons have started all 12 matches this year, but Manny Padilla and Christian De Luna are the only ones to have started 11 of the 12 contests• Andre Glasnovic recorded seven saves in a 3-1 loss at UC Davis (Sept. 27), his second-highest total of the season• Andre Glasnovic's nine saves at Stanford (Sept. 18) were the most for a USF goalkeeper since Chase Hauser saved 10 against San Diego on Nov. 9, 2014• Andre Glasnovic is the first freshman to start in goal for the Dons since Brendan Roslund in 2009
SNAPSHOT: PACIFIC (1-10-0, 0-1-0)
The Tigers are coming off a 1-0 loss at Saint Mary's to open WCC play...their lone win came at home against San Jose State (3-0) on Sept. 13...three players are tied for the team lead with two goals apiece...being outscored 21-7 and outshot 179-107...two goalkeepers have split time evenly in goal so far.
SNAPSHOT: SAINT MARY'S (4-7-1, 1-0-0)
The Gaels topped Pacific 1-0 at home this past Sunday in their WCC opener...SMC is being outscored 18-12...scored nine of their 12 goals in the second half or overtime...hold 150-148 edge in shots over opponents...Will Kendall leads the Gaels with three goals...split time evenly between two goalkeepers.
USF VS. THE WCC
The Dons went 5-2-0 in WCC play last year, but 6-3-1 against WCC opponents overall, en route to a second-place finish. The 2014 season marked the first year the WCC went away from the home and away meetings between each conference opponent; instead each WCC team met just once officially, while some teams played conference opponents more than once without those extra matches counting as official WCC contests. USF played San Diego (W, 2-0), LMU (L, 1-0) and Santa Clara (T, 1-1) in "unofficial" WCC matches last year. For the 2015 season, each WCC team will meet just once for seven total conference matches.
ON THE WORLD STAGE
Freshman defender Hunter Ashworth has been selected to join the New Zealand U-17 national team as the All Whites participate in the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Santiago, Chile. Ashworth is expected to miss at least the next few weeks with the Dons as New Zealand competes in group play Oct. 19-25. Ashworth is one of two players on the squad who hail from countries outside of New Zealand.
OPEN UP THE FLOOD GATES
The Dons' five goals scored against La Salle on Sept. 6 were the most USF has scored in a single match since a 6-0 win over Sacramento State on Oct. 3, 2003. Aaron Lombardi scored a pair of goals to notch his second-career multi-goal performance (Oct. 19, 2014 vs. Gonzaga), while Davi Ramos enjoyed his first-career multi-goal match with his two goals on the day.
TARGET ON THEIR BACKS
The Dons had the dubious honor of being picked to win the WCC title this season, as voted in the WCC Preseason Poll. USF captured two first-place votes, but was one of five teams to receive first-place votes, along with Saint Mary's (1), San Diego (2), LMU (2) and Santa Clara (1). The Dons finished in a tie with Saint Mary's for second place in the 2014 final standings.
BLAZING THE TRAIL
Second-year head coach Eddie Soto has no qualms with taking his team on the road to build a strong non-conference schedule in 2015. USF will only enjoy six contests at Negoesco Stadium this year, but will face five NCAA Tournament teams from 2014 (Penn State, Stanford, Cal State Fullerton, San Diego, Cal). The Dons will also travel to face five teams ranked in the NSCAA Preseason Top-25: No. 23 Penn State (Aug. 28), No. 8 Stanford (Sept. 18), No. 16 Cal (Sept. 20), and Cal State Fullerton (Sept. 13) and New Mexico (Sept. 30), who were both receiving votes.
BLUE CHIPS
Second-year head coach Eddie Soto and his staff made strides in building on last year's second-place WCC finish by going out and piecing together one of the nation's best recruiting classes. The Dons' 2015 class, made up of 12 newcomers (3 transfers/9 freshmen), was ranked No. 41 in the country by College Soccer News over the summer.
