Sept. 6, 2011
UP NEXT: San Diego (1-2-0) vs. Penn (2-0-0)
Friday, September 9th, 7:00 pm
San Diego, Calif.- Torero Stadium
San Diego (1-2-0) vs. Manhattan (0-2-0)
Sunday, September 11th, 2:00 pm
San Diego, Calif.- Torero Stadium
LAST TIME OUT: The Toreros (1-2-0) earned their first win of the season this past Sunday when they topped cross-town rival San Diego State 2-1 at home behind senior forward Stephen Posa's game-winning goal in the 88th minute. Posa handled a rebound off the SDSU goalie and found the far corner of the net to put USD up for good. Redshirt sophomore midfielder Daniel Meade scored his first goal as a Torero in the 20th minute when he connected with a line drive from over 25 yards out that tied the match at 1-1. The Aztecs' John Pegg scored the lone SDSU goal in the 8th minute.
This past Friday, the Toreros fell to Drake at home by a score of 4-2. Junior forward Patrick Wallen scored his first goal of the 2011 campaign in the 20th minute that gave the Toreros an early 1-0 lead. However, the momentum would be short-lived as Drake came back with four consecutive goals, including three in the span of five minutes. Freshman forward Joey Dei Rossi scored his first career goal in the 79th minute when he was assisted by senior midfielder Charles Blase.
FIRST OF MANY: Two different Toreros have recorded their first career goals in USD's first three matches. Freshman forward Joey Dei Rossi (Campbell, CA) notched his first score this past Friday in a 4-2 loss to Drake, while redshirt sophomore Daniel Meade (Oxford, England) recorded his first in Sunday's 2-1 victory over San Diego State.
STAR WATCH: The Torero offense is expected to run through 2010 West Coast Conference Player of the Year Patrick Wallen. The junior from Vasteras, Sweden led the conference in goals last season with 12, while also pacing the conference in points (25) and game-winning goals (5). His 12 goals and 25 points last year were each the second-most in a single season in WCC matches in conference history. Wallen was the WCC Freshman of the Year in 2009 after leading the team in goals (7) and points (19).
SCOUTING THE QUAKERS:. Penn started the season 2-0-0 with a 2-0 win over LaSalle this past Friday and a 5-1 victory over Saint Joseph's this past Sunday. Freshman Duke Lacroix was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week after scoring a pair of goals against Saint Joseph's. Five other Quakers have scored at least one goal in Penn's first two matches, while Christian Barreiro leads the team with two assists so far. Penn is coached by Rudy Fuller, who is in his 14th season.
ON THE RECORD WITH PENN: USD is 1-1-0 against Penn all-time, including 3-2 loss to the Quakers in their last meeting at home in 2009.
SCOUTING THE JASPERS: Manhattan comes into the week sporting an 0-2-0 record, having lost 2-0 to Villanova on Aug. 26th and 1-0 to Army on Aug. 29th. Lucas Pilar da Silva leads the team with five shots so far on the season. The Jaspers welcome 12 newcomers, including 10 freshmen, to a squad that went winless in 2010 and are led by MAAC All-Rookie team goalkeeper Chris Lands. Head coach Ashley Hammond is in his second year at the helm.
ON THE RECORD WITH MANHATTAN: This will be the first meeting between Manhattan and USD.
RECAPPING 2010: The Toreros wrapped up the 2010 campaign with a record of 9-7-3 (6-4-2 WCC), good for fourth place in the WCC. Sophomore forward Patrick Wallen and senior defender Cory Norris earned first-team All-WCC honors, while junior forward Stephen Posa took home second-team honors after scoring two goals and adding four assists. Elijah Galbraith-Knapp was named to the WCC All-Freshman team after starting 18 of the team's 19 matches.
TOREROS TABBED SECOND IN WCC PRESEASON POLL: The University of San Diego men's soccer team was picked second in the 2011 West Coast Conference preseason coaches poll. The Toreros garnered 27 total points, trailing only Loyola Marymount, who was voted first with 36 total points and six first place votes. In third was Santa Clara with 26 points, followed by Portland with 21 points, and Saint Mary's in fifth place with 19 points and one first place vote. Rounding out the poll with a tie for sixth were Gonzaga and San Francisco, each with nine points.
WALLEN AND POSA EARN PRESEASON ALL-WCC HONORS: The Toreros placed two players on the preseason All-WCC team with junior forward Patrick Wallen and senior forward Stephen Posa. Wallen (Vasteras, Sweden) was last season's WCC Player of the Year and a first-team All-WCC selection after leading the conference in goals scored (12), points (25), and game-winning goals (5). Posa (San Diego, CA) was a second-team All-WCC selection last season after tallying a pair of goals and four assists.
FRESH FACES IN 2011: The Toreros add nine newcomers to this year's roster, including seven freshmen and two transfers to go along with the 17 letterwinners returning. This year's freshman crop consists of defenders Austin Dunn (Auburn, CA), Thomas Fiskerstrand (Aalesund, Norway), and Callum Whittaker (London, England), forwards Joey Dei Rossi (Campbell, CA), Sean Klauer (Sammamish, WA), and Alex Gallagher (Billings, MT), and midfielder Shane Thompson (Las Vegas, NV). Redshirt sophomore forward Blake Milton (Spring, TX) transfers to USD this season from SMU, while junior defender Ernesto Jimenez (Santo Domingo, D.R.) joins the Toreros by way of Western Michigan University.
HEAD COACH Seamus McFadden: Entering his 33rd year at the helm, Seamus McFadden holds a career record of 321-239-56 at USD. McFadden joined the 300-win club in 2008 and has earned seven West Coast Conference Coach of the Year honors (`00, `99, '98, '95, '94, '92, '86) during his tenure at USD. He has guided the Toreros to six WCC championships and 12 NCAA tournament appearances after taking over in 1979 at the origin of the USD men's soccer program. As the all-time WCC wins leader, McFadden has coached eight NSCAA All-Americans, 141 All-WCC honorees, and 16 WCC Players of the Year. In 1992, McFadden led the Toreros to a 19-5 record and an NCAA Championship final appearance against Virginia. McFadden, a native of Donegal, Ireland, played soccer at San Diego State, graduating in 1976 with a degree in History.
CATCH THE ACTION: Fans can follow all the Torero soccer action all season long by clicking on the Gametracker and/or Livestats links on the team's schedule at www.usdtoreros.com. USD will also be appearing live on the Fox Soccer Channel for the NSCAA Game of the Week when they take on Portland on Friday, October 7th at 7:00 pm in Portland, Ore.
