STOCKTON, Calif. --- UC Irvine came from behind to take the lead in the second half, but the Pacific Tigers forced overtime and won, 3-2, with a goal in the 96th minute at Stagg Memorial Stadium.
UCI (7-3-2, 0-1-1) came out early with some new faces in the starting lineup. Pacific (7-4-1, 1-0-1) had a few opportunities including a shot from Kristina Wavomba off the crossbar.
The Tigers kept coming and succeeded on a nicely bent shot from Nydia Ramos to put them up, 1-0, in the 24th minute.
The fouls and shots started to pile up for the 'Eaters. The action continued until UCI caught a break and was awarded a penalty kick. CoCo Goodson (Ramona / University of Texas) put it away to tie the score at 1-1 in the 39th minute.
The half would come to a close, tied.
UCI took the early second half momentum with three early shots, all from Natalia Ledezma (La Mirada / UCLA).
Pacific would respond and pepper Anteater keeper, Jennifer Randazzo (San Jose / Presentation HS).
The fouls would keep coming and each club was yellow-carded as the game remained tied through the first fifteen minutes of the half.
UCI would change that and grab the lead back. Zuri Walker (San Diego / Francis Parker HS) would serve one up from the end line right onto Lexi Kopf (Sonora / Sonora HS) to head in the go-ahead strike in the 68th minute.
Pacific remained vigilant and tied it back up in the 75th minute thanks to Laura Hogan.
Both clubs would continue attacking as Kopf and Wavomba remained in pursuit.
The Tigers held the ball for a while forcing corner kicks and shots, but were unsuccessful in scoring.
UCI nearly tied it with a late scramble and shot by Walker, but still no scoring as they went to overtime.
Overtime would not last long as Pacific scored five minutes in off a shot in the box by Alex Topp to hand UCI their first conference regular season loss since 2009.
Randazzo would end with six saves.
Kopf's goal was her seventh of the season to lead the Anteaters.
Goodson scored for the third time this year, while Walker earned her first point assisting on Kopf's goal.
UCI returns from the road this week to play two more conference foes. First up with be a 7:00 p.m. match against UC Santa Barbara, Fri. Oct. 7. The 'Eaters will finish the week with a 1:00 p.m. match, Sun. Oct. 9, against the Cal Poly Mustangs.
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