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Home  |  Roster  |  Schedule/Results  |  Coaching Staff  |  News | Team Statistics | Giving

2004-2005 News Archive

Schedule | Roster | Stats

November 21, 2004
Slugs Return from 1st ever Final Four Appearance as NCAA National Runner Up


November 13, 2004
Slugs Advance to NCAA Sectionals

SANTA CRUZ, CA -- The rivalry between the UC Santa Cruz Fighting Banana Slugs and the University of Redlands Bulldogs grows even stronger as the two took their second round playoff game into a shootout this afternoon. But in the end it was the Slugs who would come out on top, upsetting Redlands' chances of moving on in the playoffs for the second year in a row.

Redlands would put up the offensive numbers as they outshot the Slugs 9 to 4 through regulation and overtime. With the shootout score tied at 6-6, UCSC's Stefan Clemens was able to drill his shot into the back of the net. Senior Goalkeeper Chris Pederson would then come up with a diving save to advance the Slugs into the next round of playoffs where they will face off against St. Norbert College (17-0-2) next weekend.

SANTA CRUZ, CA -- Brian Baird doesn’t talk much, but he’ll still eager tell you about the biggest victory in his college soccer career.

That would be UC Santa Cruz traveling to Redlands in last season’s Division-III West Regional Championship and knocking the No. 2 team in the country out of the playoffs. "They had crazy fans, their fans were trash-talking the whole game," said Baird, a junior forward and the Slugs’ leader in goals scored. "It was a tough game, but we definitely wanted to come out of the west. I’d heard stories that they’d probably be the best team we’d face. Those seniors wanted to beat Redlands, the team they hated so much. Now we want to go further than that."

Baird, cool and confident, is a big reason why the Slugs — back in the NCAA D-III playoffs — are in position to move deeper into the postseason.

But first the Slugs (18-1, No. 5 in D-III) will have to defeat Redlands (15-3-2) again in the Western Regional playoffs, this time in the second round, at 1 p.m. Saturday at home on the East Field.

Baird is, "an incredible player," teammate Aaron Lanes said. "He’s the most skilled player I’ve ever played with." Coach Paul Holocher heaps similar praise. "Brian is an incredible soccer player," Holocher said. "He has a lot of a natural ability. As a forward, he’s as complete a player as we’ve had here."

UCSC is known as a tough defensive team, so Baird’s goal scoring has been an important wrinkle in the Slugs’ attack. It’s not as if he is just emerging now, however. Baird has started since his first game freshman year. But Baird doesn’t seek the limelight, and last season he was a sophomore starting on a team stocked with senior contributors. With many new players on the UCSC roster this year, Baird has had the chance to show that he’s not just one of the best players on the team.

"He’s one of the best forwards in the nation," Holocher said. "I feel he’s an All-American this year, for sure."

The Slugs have now qualified for the NCAA Regionals, hosted here at UCSC.
  --> See full story in Santa Cruz Sentinel Online

SANTA CRUZ, CA -- On Friday afternoon, UCSC faced off against Chapman University in front of 200 plus fans to mark the beginning of their six-game home stand. UCSC came out strong in the first half tallying 3 goals in the first 12 minutes of play.

Sophomore David Frank scored the first goal of the game 3 minutes in, while Bryan Baird's 8th goal of the season came just 5 minutes later off an assist from Senior Captain Aaron Lanes. Then in the 12th minute Freshmen defender Alex Tocco sent a long ball to forward Grant Lyon who beat out Chapman goalkeeper and chipped one into the open net.

Senior Kurt Munoz would be the lone scorer in the second half, scoring unassisted in the 83rd minute to finish off the visiting Chapman Tigers 4-0. The Slugs outshot Chapman 21-6, and UCSC goalkeeper Chris Pederson recorded 3 saves in his 7th shutout this season.

On Sunday morning, UCSC took on visiting St. John's University (Minnesota) with a heavy fog set on top of the lower east field. The Johnnies fought hard but were unable to score on the Santa Cruz defense, taking only 3 shots in the game.

In the 24th minute, Freshman Alex Mandel broke open a scoreless game off of a corner kick, while Freshman Stephen Wondolowski scored the 2nd and final goal of the game in the 33rd minute after a St. John's foul in the box that would send Senior Samuel Krow-Lucal to the sideline. This set-up a penalty kick for Wondolowski, whose shot was blocked by a diving St. John's goalkeeper, but was able to follow up and put one easily into the back of the net.

The Slugs are now 14-1 and will continue their home stand as they face Holy Names on Wednesday at 4pm.

Bryan Baird (JR, Forward) DIII Independents Player of the Week

October 11 , 2004
Junior Bryan Baird Named DIII Independents Player of the Week

DIII INDEPENDENTS -- Junior forward Bryan Baird of UC-Santa Cruz is the Association of Division III Independents Men's Soccer Player of the Week for week five of 2004 season after accounting for seven points with three goals and one assist in a 2-0 week in the Midwest for the 12-1 Banana Slugs.

He is the second UCSC forward to earn Player of the Week accolades in the last four weeks. Against D3 Independent Nebraska Wesleyan, Baird broke open a scoreless game in the 52nd minute with a header, en route to a 3-2 victory for the Slugs on October 8. Two days later, in a 6-0 trouncing of Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa, he scored the eventual game-winner just 53 seconds into the contest. He also assisted on a goal in the 58th minute before adding an unassisted netter, his second of the game, two minutes later. He has seven goals and two assists for 16 points overall.

October 3, 2004
Slugs Dominate Dominican

CORNER KICK TO GOAL: #6 Steve Wondolowski.

SAN RAFAEL, CA -- The Slugs traveled to Dominican University to play their 11th game of the season, where they came out victorious 3-1.  UCSC came out strong once again, scoring 2 first half goals in the 12th and 43rd minute marks.

Steve Wondolowski led the Slugs with 2 goals, Steve headed in a corner kick to score the first goal of the game, David Frank would be credited with his 4th assist of the season.  Wondolowski scored his second goal of the game off of another corner kick in the 62nd minute.

Freshman Alex Mandel got back into the scoring action, putting one past the goalkeeper just before the end of the first half. Assisting Mandel in his 6th goal of the season were Matt Skenazy and Matt Marquess.

Head Coach Paul Holocher credits Senior right midfielder Eric Bucherre with another great offensive game, taking 4 shots on goal while also being instrumental in setting up several goal-scoring opportunities. 

The Slug offense totaled 24 shots this game, while the defense held Dominican to only 8.

UCSC travels to Nebraska next weekend where they will face DIII Independent Nebraska Wesleyan (6-3-2) on Friday night and Buena Vista University (4-5-1) on Sunday afternoon.

ATHERTON, CA --  After Sunday's loss to CSU Hayward, the Slugs came out on fire against Menlo College this afternoon.  In the first 9 minutes of play, Sophomore David Frank assisted both Bryan Baird and Stephen Wondolowski for the first 2 goals of the game.  After a goal by Menlo in the 18th minute, the Slugs would be unstoppable, scoring 6 unanswered goals to finish the game with a 8-1 victory.

Senior Midfielder Eric Bucchere lead the Slugs with 2 goals and 1 assist, while Freshman Matt Skenazy added his 5th goal of the season.  Freshman Zach Migdal and Junior Grant Lyon would also get in the on the Slug scoring action, tallying their 2nd and 4th goals respectively.

The Slugs continue on through their 10 game road stretch, facing Dominican University this Sunday at 1pm.

September 27, 2004
Men's Soccer falls to Hayward in Overtime

HAYWARD, CA -- The UCSC Men's soccer team has been off to a fabulous start this season, going into Sunday's game against Hayward they had an 8-0 record, having defeated almost all of the southern California SCIAC teams; Whittier, La Verne, Cal Tech, Pomona, Claremont, rivals Redlands, and also fellow DIII Independent Chapman University in double overtime. But it would be the Pioneers of CSU Hayward that would hand the Slugs their first upset of the year.

It was a physical game, referees called 21 fouls, and handed out 6 yellow cards, and one ejection. UCSC was dominating on offense, but were just unable to get any shots past Hayward's goalkeeper. After a scoreless game in regulation, the teams took the battle into overtime. Having only taken 3 shots the entire game, it took the Pioneers only 2 minutes in overtime for their first scoring opportunity on a breakaway. Where Hayward's Dannylo Aylla was able to take it deep into the box and put one into the far post past goalkeeper Chris Pederson, ending the game and UCSC's 8-game winning streak.

Look for the Slugs to bounce back from this loss as they face Menlo College on Wednesday at 4 pm in Atherton.

Alex Mandel (FR, Forward) DIII Independents Player of the Week

September 23, 2004
Freshman Alex Mandel Leads Team in Goals, Points

DIII INDEPENDENTS -- UC Santa Cruz is 8-0 overall, and ranked No.2 in Division III men’s soccer (9/21) by the NSCAA, and a rookie has played a major role in the Slugs success. Freshman striker Alex Mandel is the Association of Division III Independents men’s soccer Player of the Week after playing a role in both goals as the Slugs upended Chapman University, 2-1, in overtime on September 19. After giving Santa Cruz a 1-0 lead with his fifth goal of the season by heading in a cross, he assisted on the game-winning goal for UCSC in the fifth minute of the extra session.

He leads the team in goals and points (13), and has helped the Slugs to their best start in school history, and a No. 1 ranking in the West Region (9/21).

September 16, 2004
UCSC Men Rank #2 in Nation

SANTA CRUZ, CA -- The National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) has moved the undefeated Slugs from #4 to #2 in the Nation this past Tuesday. This is the highest ranking that the UCSC Men's Soccer team has ever received in school history. Trinity University of Texas stands at #1 with a 4-0-0 record and has remained at the top of the rankings since the preseason polls. These two teams faced off last year in the Elite 8 of the NCAA DIII National Championships, where Trinity defeated the Slugs 3-0 and went on to claim the National Championship.

In addition, UCSC is currently at #1 in the West Region in the NSCAA Rankings.

UCSC ended the season with a final ranking of #5 in the Nation. It was a historic year for UCSC Men's Soccer which included some stats that put them into the NCAA records book: #10 on the list for Goals scored in a season (93), and #15 for season wins (21). Their final record of 21-2-0, a 6.5 game improvement from their 11-5-2 record from 2002, finishing in second among most improved teams.

Currently, the Slugs remain undefeated at 6-0 and hold the #1 ranking in the NCAA DIII West Region. Only 6 games into the season, the Slugs have scored 28 goals thus far, with Freshmen Alex Mandel and Matt Skenazy leading the way with 4 each. The Slugs are averaging almost 5 goals per game on 17 shots, while Senior Chris Pederson and Sophomore Justin Brock have only allowed 2 goals on the season.

Today the team left for their second road trip of the season and are heading down to Southern California to take on the University of La Verne (1-1-3) Thursday and Chapman University (1-3-0) on Sunday.

Preview 2004-05 Season

The 2003 fall season was a special one for the UC Santa Cruz Men's Soccer Program as they finished the season ranked #5 in the Nation with a 21-2 record and NCAA quarterfinal appearance. With 8 seniors graduating in 2004, Coach Holocher will be looking to a new crop of players to help the program maintain its reputation as one of the top programs in the country.

The 2004 Slugs will be led by a very talented core of returning players including team captain and Senior Aaron Lanes, a defensive midfielder who is a clear All-American candidate. Forward Bryan Baird has emerged as one of the top young forwards in the nation and will be joined by skillful Sophomores Adam Smarte and David Frank in the attack. This year's midfield will include senior leaders Jimmy Anderson, Sam Krow-Lucal, Kurt Munoz, and Eric Bucchere. While Eric Tozer and Steve Wondolowski will be looked to lead the new "back four" defense along with talented Junior goalkeeper, Chris Pedersen. Joining Pedersen in goal will be newcomers Justin Brock and Corbyn Prychun. The talented freshmen class of Matt Marquess, Alex Tocco, Alex Mandel, and Zack Migdal will be looked to as positive contributors to the program.

The team will play Redlands, Cal Lutheran, Nebraska Wesleyan, Chapman, Pomona-Pitzer, and other Division III programs on their quest to reach the NCAA playoffs for the fourth time in five years. Coach Paul Holocher believes that this young team is hungry to prove themselves this year, and with some hard work and determination this Men's Soccer Program looks