Lopes take No. 25 ranking to Cal Poly

Thursday, Sept. 15 | 7 p.m. | San Luis Obispo, Calif.


No. 25 Grand Canyon Lopes (4-1)	vs	Cal Poly Mustangs (2-1-1)
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The Grand Canyon men's soccer team puts its new No. 25 national ranking to the test at Cal Poly on Thursday night, when two of the nation's best defenses will meet at 7 p.m. with the match streamed live on ESPN+. The Lopes play their third road match of the season after Friday's 1-0 home win against Saint Mary's drew 5,018 fans, the largest men's soccer attendance in the nation this season.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

BACK IN THE TOP 25: GCU began the season as the No. 22 team in the nation and re-entered the national top 25 after upsetting Oregon State 1-0 on the road and beating Saint Mary's 1-0 at home on Friday night. The United Soccer Coaches pollsters voted the Lopes at No. 25.
OPPONENTS GO BLANK: The Lopes defense showed why it was one of the team's most touted components last week. With freshman Rafael Guerrero in goal, GCU shut out then-No. 22 Oregon State on the road before also blanking Saint Mary's on Friday. The performances earned honors for senior Esai Easley, who also scored Friday's winning goal, as WAC Defensive Player of the Week and College Soccer News' and Top Drawer Soccer's national teams of the week. GCU only has allowed four goals in five matches while Cal Poly has limited opponents to three goals in four matches.
WORTH WATCHING: Fifth-year midfielder Justin Rasmussen already is showing why coaches selected him to the preseason watch list for the Hermann Trophy, given to the national player of the year. Rasmussen is one of 52 players in the nation to already score two game-winning goals and one of 77 players with at least three assists.

SCOUTING

Cal Poly (2-1-1) has been on a 10-day competition hiatus since defeating San Francisco 3-0 at home on Sept. 6. The Mustangs previously lost 1-0 at Santa Clara in the season opener before a 2-1 win at Saint Mary's and a 1-1 home tie against San Diego State.

Cal Poly head coach Steve Sampson, the former U.S. national team manager and former Los Angeles Galaxy coach, notched his 100th collegiate coaching victory in the season-opening win at Saint Mary's.

The Mustangs have not faced GCU since 2014 (Cal Poly won 2-0 at home) and have not faced a ranked team since 2019 (Cal Poly won 2-1 against No. 24 Loyola Marymount). They come into Thursday's game with one goal allowed over the previous 235 minutes of play. Junior goalkeeper Carlos Arce-Hurtado, a native of Tijuana, Mexico, has a 1.09 career goals against average over 21 matches.

The 3-0 win against San Francisco included Cal Poly goals from forward Conner Leber and defender Jacob Glass, giving each Mustangs player two goals on the season. Senior Neil Boyal leads the team with three assists, accounting for both goals in Cal Poly's win against Saint Mary's.

Defensively, Cal Poly has its 2019 back line in tact from the season in which it allowed 61 shots in 17 games. Its 2020-21 season was canceled for COVID-19 precautions.

LAST TIME OUT

Senior defender Esai Easley scored his first goal since his 2018 freshman season in Friday's win against Saint Mary's. On the match's lone goal, the Hawaii native took a deflection by junior Shaun-Chris Joash and used his left foot to score in the 16th minute.
Easley, senior midfielder Marios Andreou, senior defender Alejandro Fernandez Alcaide, junior defender Rodolfo Prado and fifth-year defender Ariel Aguas each played 90 minutes in the 1-0 win Friday against Saint Mary's.
The game drew a NCAA season-best 5,018 fans to GCU Stadium for Los Lopes Night, part of a tribute to Hispanic Heritage Month. Only four other programs have drawn more than 4,000 fans to a game this season.
First-year Lopes head coach Leonard Griffin: "I couldn't be prouder of the group."

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Lopes open WAC play on Sept. 25 with a 7 p.m. game against Seattle U at GCU Stadium.

Thursday, Sept. 15 | 7 p.m. | San Luis Obispo, Calif.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

SCOUTING

LAST TIME OUT

WHAT'S NEXT?

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Ariel Aguas

Marios Andreou

Esai Easley

Alejandro Fernandez Alcaide

Rafael Guerrero

Rodolfo Prado

Justin Rasmussen

Grand Canyon University Athletics