Oct. 27, 2009
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The No. 22 ranked University of San Diego men's soccer team split last weekend against Loyola Marymount. The Toreros remain in first place of the West Coast Conference standings and continue to hold a national ranking despite the loss. The Toreros will look ahead to a single conference match this week against the San Francisco Dons.
The Toreros fell on Thursday afternoon to the Loyola Marymount Lions in a 2-1 overtime loss at home but bounced back in a 4-1 victory over the Lions on Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles. On Thursday, the Toreros fell behind 1-0 to the Lions. Freshman forward Patrick Wallen tied the match up in the second half giving the Toreros a chance at the win. Regulation ended forcing overtime as the Toreros tried to put away a goal, however LMU recorded the goal midway through the first overtime period for the 2-1 win over USD. On Sunday at LMU, the Toreros took a 1-0 lead in the first half thanks to freshman Dan Delgado. In the second half, USD's Andrew Feld scored back-to-back goals for San Diego giving the Toreros a 3-0 lead. The Lions cut the lead with a penalty kick 3-1 but San Diego's defense would not let another goal past them the remainder of the match. Wallen would score his second goal of the week capping a 4-1 victory over the Lions.
The Toreros are currently 10-4-0 overall with five matches remaining in the season. They hold a conference mark of 6-1-0 for 18 points. Saint Mary's is in second place (16 points) with a 9-2-3 overall record and a 5-1-1 conference mark. Portland is in third place with 11 points and an 8-3-3 overall record and 3-2-2 in conference. Loyola Marymount is in fourth place (7 points) with an overall record of 7-7-1 and 2-4-1 conference record. Rounding out the WCC standings is Gonzaga in fifth place (7 points, 5-6-3, 2-4-1 WCC), San Francisco in sixth place (6 points, 5-7-1, 2-4-0 WCC), and Santa Clara in seventh place (4 points, 3-9-3, 1-5-1 WCC).
San Diego remains in the national polls this week with a high of 22nd in the nation in the Soccer Times Poll after being ranked 23rd just a week ago. The Toreros dropped to 23rd in the Soccer America Top-25 poll, dropping from 19th last week. The Toreros hold steady at No. 24 again this week in the College Soccer News Top-30 poll. The NSCAA Adidas Poll marks San Diego just outside the Top-25 for the second week in a row. The Toreros were 28th overall receiving 28 votes. Saint Mary's was the only other WCC school to earn votes with 29, just ahead of San Diego. In the NSCAA West Regional poll, the Toreros remained in fifth place again this week. Other WCC schools in the regional poll include Saint Mary's ranked No. 4 and Portland ranked No. 7.
USD will travel to the Bay Area this Friday for a single match against the University of San Francisco Dons. San Diego opened up the conference season against the Dons with a 1-0 win back on October 4 putting the Toreros at 14-14-2 all-time when facing the Dons.. USF had a bye over the weekend playing their last opponent on October 18 losing to Gonzaga 2-0.
