Men's Soccer

Aztecs Face Two Top 15 Foes This Weekend

Sept. 29, 2003

SAN DIEGO -

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SDSU will put their three game winning streak on the line as they face one of their toughest road trips in years as the Aztecs travel to New Jersey to take on perennial powers No. 11 Rutgers (5-2) and No. 14 St. Johns (5-3-1) at the Philips/adidas Soccer Classic this weekend.
* Rutgers will be looking to get win number 300 for head coach Bob Reasso. Reasso has compiled a 299-127-51 record in 23 seasons with the Scarlet Knights and taken the squad to 11 NCAA Tournaments and three Final Four appearances.
* St. John's has advanced to the NCAA Tournament 11 straight years, and won their first round matchup seven times in a row, an accomplishment which has only been duplicated by one other team in the country (Indiana).

Heading Home
* The trip to Rutgers marks the homecoming for head coach Lev Kirshner. Kirshner was a defender at Rutgers from 1987-90. As a junior in 1989, Kirshner came off the bench to assist the Scarlet Knights to a 2-1 win over San Diego State in the only previous meeting between the two schools.
* Lev played under current Rutgers coach Bob Reasso. Later he returned to the Scarlet Knights as an assistant coach in 1996, where he helped Rutgers advance to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen.

Recapping The Weekend's Matches
*San Diego State improved to 6-1-1 as they went 2-0 over the weekend with a 2-1 victory over Hofstra on Friday and a 2-0 win over Albany on Sunday. SDSU improved their unbeaten streak to five and their winning streak to three. The Aztecs also remain a perfect 5-0 at home, and are off to their best start since 1991 when they went 7-0 to begin the year.
*Dione Scott scored an unassisted goal with under 20 minutes remaining to give SDSU a 2-1 win over Hofstra. Scott stole the ball from a defender and blasted a shot from the right side of the box just inside the left post. Matt Couch started the scoring with his first goal of the year at the 55:16 mark.
*The Aztecs scored a first-half goal for the first time this season when Raul Bautista headed a corner kick into the back of the goal in the 29th minute. Heath Creager followed with the Aztecs' second goal two minutes later to seal the win. It was the second shutout of the season for the Aztec goalkeeping combination of Colin Hanke and Tally Hall. Kenny Fechner assisted on both goals and now has six assists on the year.

Odds & Ends
*Two has been the lucky number for the Aztecs as all six wins this year have come with two goals.
*Kenny Fechner has tallied six assists in the Aztecs' first eight games. The only SDSU player to record more in an entire season the last seven years was Enrique Tovar, when he posted seven assists in 2001.
*The Aztecs have had six different players score game-winning goals in the their six victories so far this season.
*SDSU is a perfect 5-0 at the Sports Deck this season, which marks the longest winning streak ever at the four year old facility. The Aztecs will also attempt to post their second straight win on the road.

Looking Ahead: University of San Diego
* The Aztecs return home for another huge contest as they host cross-town rival University of San Diego on Oct. 11 at 2:00 pm. USD is 4-2-1 on the year including a three-match winning streak. The Toreros have advanced to the past five consecutive NCAA tournaments and 10 since 1990. SDSU holds a 9-3-2 advantage in the all-time series. However, the three losses have all come in the past three years.

Aztecs In The Polls
* SDSU obtained sole possession of eighth place in this week's NSCAA/adidas regional poll. It is the highest the Aztecs have been so far this season.
NSCAA/adidas Far West Region Top 10
Rk School W-L-T
1 UCLA 6-1-0
2 UC Santa Barbara 7-0-1
3 Washington 6-0-1
4 Cal State Northridge 5-0-2
5 Santa Clara 7-2-2
6 Loyola Marymount 5-3-1
7 Oregon State 6-3-0
8 San Diego State 6-1-1
9 San Jose State 4-1-2
10 Portland 5-5-0