Nov. 6, 2014
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LOS ANGELES - Back home on Sullivan Field after a two-match road swing, the LMU men's soccer team hosts West Coast Conference rival San Francisco on Friday, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. WCC play continues on Sunday when the Lions travel to Santa Clara.
LMU enters the week at 7-4-5 overall and 1-1-2 in WCC play after earning a pair of scoreless draws at Portland and Gonzaga last week. The shutouts were the seventh and eight of the season for the Lions' defense. However, LMU's offense has struggled to get things going as of late, not scoring a goal for nearly 313 consecutive minutes.
Despite the recent offensive struggles, the Lions continue to lead all WCC teams with 25 goals and 29 assists, while also holding the league's lowest goals against average at 0.69.
Sebastian De Rada,
Adrien Perez and
Craig Nitti have each scored five times while De Rada is also the team leader in assists with five. Perez,
Jack McCracken and freshman
Alvaro Madrigal have four assists apiece.
Vince Paldino and
Paul Blanchette have each made eight starts in goal. Paldino has five shutouts and a 0.49 GAA while Blanchette has three clean sheets and a 0.88 GAA.
San Francisco enters the week as one of two unbeatens in WCC play at 3-0-0 and 9-4-2 overall. Danny Kirkland leads the Dons with five goals and a pair of assists while Miguel Aguilar has four goals and two assists. in goal, Chase Hauser holds a 1.03 GAA and four shutouts.
Santa Clara sits at 6-6-3 overall and 2-1-0 in WCC play and will play at league-leader San Diego on Friday before hosting the Lions on their senior day at Buck Shaw Stadium on Sunday. Carlos Delgadillo paces the Bronco attack with four goals and five assists. The Bronco defense has posted four shutouts this year, all four coming in succession from Sept. 5 through Sept. 14. Santa Clara has allowed at least one goal scored in nine straight matches, including multiple goals four times.
FOLLOW THE LIONS LMU vs. San Francisco - Friday, Nov. 7 @ 7:00 pm - Sullivan Field
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Live Stats | Watch (LMU Sports Network)
LMU at Santa Clara - Sunday, Nov. 9 @ 2:00 pm - Buck Shaw Stadium
Live Stats |
Watch (thew.tv) LION NOTES •
Craig Nitti and
Adrien Perez were named to the 11-member John Rennie/Nike Invitational All-Tournament Team.
• Senior defender
Craig Nitti was named to the 2014 MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List.
• LMU was the preseason pick to repeat as West Coast Conference Champions, earning six first place votes.
• Five Lions were named to the 11-member All-WCC Preseason Team including
Craig Nitti,
John McFarlin,
Adrien Perez,
Paul Blanchette and
Sebastian De Rada.
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Craig Nitti and
Adrien Perez were named to TopDrawerSoccer.com's College Soccer Preseason and Midseason Top 100 Players list.
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Craig Nitti was named to the CollegeSoccerNews.com National Team of the Week (Oct. 5), as well as the College Sports Madness WCC Player of the Week, after scoring a pair of goals against Santa Clara and San Francisco that helped lead the Lions to a 1-0-1 weekend. • After not scoring a goal through the first seven matches,
Craig Nitti found the back of the net five times in a five-match stretch. The Lions went unbeaten in the stretch at 4-0-1. • LMU has scored four goals in a match three times this year, matching the highest scoring output since a 5-4 win over San Francisco in 2008. The feat was reached most recently in a 4-0 shutout of Pacific on Oct. 19. •
Adrien Perez scored his 16th career goal versus UCSB (Oct. 14) putting him in tie for 7th in the LMU career goals record book.
SERIES HISTORY VS SAN FRANCISCO LMU earned a 3-1 victory at San Francisco on Oct. 5 of this season, marking its third straight win over the Dons.
Grant Sampson,
Craig Nitti and
Adrien Perez scored for LMU while Bryce Kaminski put up the lone goal for USF. LMU has won eight of the last 12 meetings against the Dons.
SERIES HISTORY VS SANTA CLARA The Lions and Broncos met on Oct. 3 of this year and for the seventh time in seven years, the match ended in a draw, 1-1. Santa Clara scored first in the match before
Craig Nitti netted the equalizer on a penalty kick. LMU is unbeaten against the Broncos in the last four meetings between the two programs, having won both meetings in 2013 in shutout fashion and earning a scoreless draw in the final meeting of 2012.
