COMING UP...
Match #9
San Francisco Dons (2-6-0, 0-0-0) vs. CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners (1-2-2)
Thursday, Sept. 24, 6 p.m. | Negoesco Stadium
Series Record: CSUB leads, 2-0-0
Last Meeting: CSUB won, 3-1; Sept. 1, 2011 at USF
Coverage: Live Stats | Video | USF Game Notes | CSUB Game Notes
Match #10
San Francisco Dons (2-6-0, 0-0-0) at UC Davis Aggies (2-5-0)
Sunday, Sept. 27, 1 p.m. | Aggie Soccer Field
Series Record: USF leads, 12-1-1
Last Meeting: Tie, 0-0; Sept. 26, 2014 at USF
Coverage: Live Stats | USF Game Notes | UCD Game Notes
SAN FRANCISCO - The Dons return to Negoesco Stadium for their first home contest since Sept. 6 when they host CSU Bakersfield at 6 p.m. on Thursday evening. USF will then travel north to UC Davis where a 1 p.m. kickoff awaits them on Sunday versus the Aggies.
LAST TIME OUT: The Dons are coming off consecutive losses to Pac-12 opponents - a 3-1 defeat at No. 4 Stanford this past Friday, followed by a 3-1 loss at Cal on Sunday. David Garrett scored his second goal of the year in the 46th minute of the loss to Stanford. The Cardinal scored twice in the first half - both coming from Tomas Hilliard-Arce - and added an insurance goal by Jordan Morris in the 58th minute. Andre Glasnovic recorded a career-high nine saves in goal for the Dons in the loss.
Two days later at Cal, Jesus Del Toro came off the bench and notched his first score of the year in the 59th minute, but it was not enough as the Bears got two goals from Christian Thierjung in the 62nd and 65th minute and a score from Jose Carrera-Garcia in the 12th minute. USF and Cal matched each other with 11 shots on the day.
NOTES AND TIDBITS
• After his goal at Stanford, David Garrett joins Davi Ramos and Aaron Lombardi as the only Dons with multiple goals this season; each player has two
• David Garrett's goal broke a two-match scoreless streak for the Dons
• Andre Glasnovic's nine saves at Stanford are the most for a USF goalkeeper since Chase Hauser saved 10 against San Diego on Nov. 9, 2014
• Since stepping in as the starting keeper against Canisius on Sept. 4, Andre Glasnovic has collected 32 saves
• Andre Glasnovic is the first freshman to start in goal for the Dons since Brendan Roslund in 2009
• Davi Ramos is averaging 2.67 shots per game, while the next closest Don is David Garrett, averaging 1.75 shots per game
• Davi Ramos and David Garrett both lead the Dons with six shots on goal this year
USF VS. THE WAC
The Dons are a combined 4-3-1 against current members of the Western Athletic Conference in their history. The WAC's member schools have changed a lot over the past five years, but the only three current WAC schools that USF has played are CSU Bakersfield (0-2-0), Seattle University (2-1-1), and Missouri-Kansas City (2-0-0). The WAC reinstated men's soccer in 2013.
USF VS. THE BIG WEST
The Dons have a long history with Big West opponents. Since 2010, USF is 3-7-4 against Big West schools. The most recent contests were losses at UC Riverside and Cal State Fullerton earlier this year.
FIRST OF MANY
Freshmen Sean Bowman and Santiago Digiuseppe each recorded their first-career goals over the Dons' home-opening weekend Sept. 4-6. Bowman scored what would end up being the game winner in the 15th minute against Canisius, while Digiuseppe tallied his score in the 69th minute in the win over La Salle.
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.
STEP RIGHT UP
Freshman keeper Andre Glasnovic posted wins in his first two career starts during the Dons' home-opening weekend. Glasnovic stepped in for his first-career start on Sept. 4 and helped the Dons shutout Canisius by making four saves, including a number of point-blank chances that Glasnovic was able to prevent. He followed that up with four more saves in USF's win over La Salle, his only goal allowed coming on a penalty kick in the 38th minute.
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.
BACK IN THE MIX
After having a total of 10 All-WCC honorees last year, the Dons bring back six All-WCC performers in honorable mention selections Davi Ramos, Joshua Smith, Christian De Luna, Manny Padilla, Aaron Lombardi, and all-freshman selection Bryce Kaminski.
