Men's Soccer Unbeaten Streak Now at Five
10/1/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Oct. 1, 2001
This Week: The Saint Mary's men's soccer team will face the 2nd-ranked Stanford Cardinal on Sunday, October 7. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 pm. The Gaels are currently 5-16-1 against the Cardinal in career match-ups. The last meeting between these two teams was September 22, 2000 a 5-0 loss for the Gaels.
Scouting the Cardinals: Stanford has been remarkable in it's first six games of the season, winning all of them. On Sunday the Cardinal blasted Fresno State 4-0, out-shooting the Bulldogs 18-10. The Cardinals have already posted wins against three West Coast Confernce teams which include Gonzaga (3-0), Portland (1-0), and Loyola Marymount (1-0). On the season the Cardinal have allowed only one goal, that was to Cal State Fullerton in a 3-1 win. The Cardinal are led by junior Roger Lavasque who currently has four goals, two assists, and one game-winner. Goalkeeper Andrew Terris holds a 0.19 goal-against-average, tallying 19 saves in 472 minutes. The Gaels will need to put some pressure on the goalkeeper in order to give the defense some rest.
Previous Week: The Gaels played their first match at Saint Mary's Stadium on Friday, September 28 against a good UC Irvine team. The Gaels were outshot 29-8, but were able to come out, after two overtimes, with a 0-0 tie. Goalkeeper Kellan Wilson was astonishing as he grabbed 13 saves and another shutout. Freshmen Scott Phipps led the offensive attack with three shots. In the Gaels second match of the week against the College of Notre Dame, the Gaels offense had a breakthrough performance scoring five goals in a shutout victory. Junior Brian Voltattorni scored his first multi-goal game with two, both coming in the first half. Prior to this season Voltattorni only had two career goals. Adding to the attack, junior Brian Rhodes scored his first goal of his career as well as recording his first assist of the season. Freshmen Diego Rovira scored his first goal of the season as he rifled an unassisted shot at the 18:40 minute mark. To top off the scoring rally, team points leader Juan Lopez scored his fourth goal of the season on an assist from junior Bjorn Olson.
Head Coach: Steve Rammel (Rutgers, 1990) is currently 5-2-1 in his first year as head coach for the Gaels. Before taking helm here at Saint Mary's, Rammel was a head assistant for three years at UCLA. At UCLA he helped guide the Bruins to three straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including a Final Four appearance in 1999. Prior to his time spent at UCLA, Rammel was an assistant coach at the University of Massachusetts from 1994-96 where he helped guide the Minutemen to their first-ever Atlantic 10 regular season title in 1994. As a player Rammel was one of Major League Soccer's top players in 1996, he was an all-star with DC United which won the MLS Cup and the U.S. Open Cup. He scored 14 goals and had four assists to rank eighth in the league in scoring (32 points). Rammel led the league with six game-winning goals.
Gaels Post New Record: With the Gaels fourth consecutive shutout they now hold the school record. The record was previously held by the 1997 team with three. Their four shutout wins came against UCSB (1-0), Dominican University (3-0), UC Irvine (0-0), and College of Notre Dame (5-0). The Gaels have not given up a goal in over 550 minutes in their current five-game unbeaten streak.
Gaels Off to a Great Start: The Gaels are currently off to their best start since 1988 when Saint Mary's started 5-2-1. The 1988 team followed their 5-2-1start with a tie against Cal, a loss against Portland, and a loss to San Francisco. The Gaels look to take a different road as they travel to play against 2nd-ranked Stanford and continue on against Washington and Portland.
On the Road Again: For the first time since the tragedy on September 11, the Gaels will be back on the road. Their last road trip was to Wisconsin as they got away with one loss and one win. The Gaels will first travel to Palo Alto, CA as they play 2nd-ranked Stanford. They will then head to Seattle, WA to play 7th-ranked Washington. They will follow that up with their first WCC match against Portland. To round out the month of October, the Gaels will travel to UCLA to play the 11th-ranked Bruins and Cal State Fullerton. The Gaels won't be home until November 11.
Monday, October 20
Thursday, October 16
Saturday, September 27
Thursday, September 04
