SPOKANE, Wash.—Coming off a bye week in the midst of the West Coast Conference slate, the Gonzaga University men's soccer team will enjoy home cooking for the rest of the season, playing four of their remaining five matches at Luger Field. The Zags start that stretch this weekend with a pair of matches against San Diego and Loyola Marymount.
"Being at home for four games should give us an advantage, but we have to play our game," said Gonzaga head coach Einar Thorarinsson. "We are still working on getting better on the offense."
Gonzaga is 3-10-0 overall and 1-1-0 in WCC play, most recently traveling to the Bay Area for matches at Santa Clara and San Francisco two weekends ago. The Zags beat the Broncos 2-1, posting their first victory against Santa Clara in five years, and nearly escaped USF with a point before ceding the game-winning goal in the 109th minute. Graison Le was involved with both goals against the Broncos while Clark Phillips scored a penalty at San Francisco. He also led the team with seven shots over the two games. Ben Willis played all 198 minutes in goal that weekend, making 11 saves.
This weekend's slate opens with a Halloween contest with San Diego, set for 2:00 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 31. The Toreros are tied for the league lead at 2-0, beating Saint Mary's and Pacific before the conference-wide weekend off last week. USD is led by Connor Brandt and Torrey DeArmas, who both have four goals apiece. Brandt is also the team's leader with 12 points, supplementing his four goals with four assists. In goal, Thomas Olsen has played every match, keeping a 0.98 goals-against average while making 29 saves.
After San Diego, the Zags welcome Loyola Marymount to Luger Field on Sunday, Nov. 2, at 12:00 p.m. At 1-1-0 in the conference (7-4-3 overall), LMU tied with Gonzaga and two other squads for second in the WCC standings. The Lions lead the conference with 25 goals this season, with three players scoring five times apiece. Sebastian De Rada is one of those three, and he also has five assists for a team-leading 15 points. Keepers Vince Paldino and Paul Blanchette have split time in goal, each playing seven of LMU's 14 matches. Paldino has made 30 saves while posting a 0.57 goals-against average while Blanchette's saved 22 shots and allowed 1.02 goals per contest.
Live stats for both matches may be found here while both matches will be streamed on theW.tv.
