Matadors Face Road Tests at UC Riverside, Hawai'i

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NORTHRIDGE, CA---

CSUN Women's Soccer (5-4-5, 1-1-1 BWC) embarks on a key Big West road trip this week as the Matadors visit UC Riverside on Thursday evening at 7 p.m. and head to Hawai'i on Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. (PT). Live stats will be available for both matches.

The Matadors currently sit in a fifth-place tie in the conference standings with Long Beach State (1-1-1) at four points. Just ahead of the the Matadors and 49ers, UC Davis (2-0) and Cal State Fullerton (2-1) have six points while second-place UC Riverside (3-0) has nine points. UC Irvine (3-0-1) leads the Big West standings with 10. UC Santa Barbara (0-2-1) possesses seventh place with one point followed by Hawai'i (0-3) and Cal Poly (0-4). The top four teams in the standings at the end of the regular season will advance to the Big West Conference Tournament.

Last week, CSUN went unbeaten and collected four crucial conference points. The Matadors erased a halftime deficit against UC Santa Barbara and earned a 1-1 draw on Thursday before winning a high-scoring affair versus Cal Poly, 3-2, on Sunday.

Trailing by a goal, Cynthia Sanchez found Amy Aquino in the 62nd minute for the freshman's second goal of the season against the Gauchos. Goalkeeper Jovani McCaskill and the Matadors held UCSB scoreless the rest of the way en route to earning the team's first Big West point.

Against the Mustangs, CSUN received goals from Avery DeWitt and Sanchez but needed a strike in the 73rd minute from Sylvia Trinh to break a 2-2 tie to pull off the victory. Lindsay Kutscher dished out the winning assist to Trinh while Christina Nixon earned her first helper of the year on Sanchez's goal.

Reaching another milestone in her record-breaking career, Sanchez collected her 20th career goal in the win over Cal Poly as she became just the second Matador in team history to accomplish the feat. With her goal, Sanchez has moved within two goals of catching CSUN's all-time scoring leader Farryn Townley (2006-10). Sanchez also has climbed into second place on the Matadors' all-time point list with 46. Townley holds the point record with 48.

CSUN leads UC Riverside in the all-time series 9-7 after defeating the Highlanders 1-0 last season at Matador Soccer Field. The teams have split the past six meetings with each team winning on its home field. The Matadors' last victory (1-0) in Riverside took place on October 16, 2009.

The Matadors have gone 9-3-1 all time against Hawai'i and won the past two meetings. Last season, CSUN defeated the Rainbow Wahine on Senior Day behind a golden goal from Kourtney Kutscher in double overtime. CSUN has won three of five all time meetings in Hawai'i including a 1-0 win two seasons ago.

A Closer Look at UC Riverside
The Highlanders are 6-7-2 but a perfect 3-0-0 in Big West play this season. In their only match last week, the Highlanders defeated Cal State Fullerton 1-0 last Thursday. The duo of junior Quinley Quezada and senior Ashley Webb have registered three goals, two assists and eight points apiece. Quezada also has two game-winning goals on the year. In net, sophomore Annie Bailey has started the last three matches and allowed just one goal over that span. Bailey has produced an 0.76 GAA and .846 save percentage for the Highlanders.

A Closer Look at Hawai'i
The Rainbow Wahine are 5-7 and 0-3 in conference play after dropping a 3-2 decision at home to UC Irvine last Sunday. Senior Sonest Furtado leads the team with four goals, three assists and 11 points while junior Raisa Strom-Okimoto has three goals and an assist. Junior goalkeeper Alexis Mata has appeared in every minute this season and posted a 1.39 GAA and .779 save percentage. Before hosting the Matadors, Hawai'i takes on visiting UC Santa Barbara on Thursday.

Matadors Face Road Tests at UC Riverside, Hawai'i

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Players Mentioned

Amy Aquino

Avery DeWitt

Kourtney Kutscher

Lindsay Kutscher

Jovani McCaskill

Christina Nixon

Cynthia Sanchez

Sylvia Trinh