California Baptist University
Grand Canyon
MSOC Preview: Lancers Prep for Final Road Trip of the Regular Season
10/22/2024 12:52:00 PM | Men's Soccer
RIVERSIDE - California Baptist University men's soccer is slated to take their final road trip of the season this week, stopping first in Phoenix to take on Grand Canyon before heading south to Edinburg, Texas, to face off with the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
The Lancers are coming off a three-point week after cruising to a 3-0 victory over San Jose State before falling in the waning seconds to Seattle U, 1-0. CBU currently sits in a three-way tie for fourth place in the league standings with seven conference points, alongside GCU and UNLV. First out of the tournament lineup, but still very much in the hunt, is UTRGV, who is in seventh place but, with five points, still has time and opportunities to include themselves in the postseason conversation.
The Lancers have four more matches to secure and improve their seeding for the upcoming WAC Tournament. While mathematically, they are still in the running to earn a first-round bye, there are a lot of outside factors that would need to happen for that to come to fruition. This weekend's games won't clinch anything one way or the other for CBU, but they will go a long way in determining the postseason future of the Lancers.
GRAND CANYON AT A GLANCE
The Lopes conference record of 2-2-1 mirrors the Lancers' tally with two common opponents. Both squads drew with UNLV earlier this season, but GCU fell, 1-0, to the Trailblazers of Utah Tech after CBU defeated UTU 2-1 in St. George.
This match looks like a defensive struggle on paper as the teams rank one and two in the WAC in goals allowed, goals against average, and save percentage. It'll be up to the team's leading scorers, Blake D'Agostino and Bright Nutornutsi. to overcome the stout defensive units.
UTRGV AT A GLANCE
The Vaqueros start the week with an overall record of 3-6-3 while going 1-2-2 in conference play. UTRGV's lone WAC win so far was convincingly secured against Air Force with a 5-1 rout of the Falcons. Besides their victory over Air Force, the only other Division I win UTRGV secured was in their season-opener when they downed Lindenwood 3-1.
Statistically, the Vaqueros live on opposite ends of the WAC. Offensively, they have a respectable attack, which ranks in the top five of all offensive categories, peaking at T1 in assists per game at 1.50 and second in goals per game at 1.58. However, their defensive unit is lacking on paper, allowing the second most goals per game at a rate of 1.78 and a league-worst save percentage of 66.7.
