Pencil Them In
November 07, 2011 | Women's Soccer
THIS WEEK'S ACTION
NCAA Tournament First Round
SAN DIEGO TOREROS at
UC IRVINE ANTEATERS
Friday, Nov. 11 - 7:00 p.m.
Irvine, Calif. - Anteater Stadium
The Anteaters are back in the tourney. After a fantastic run in the 2010, UCI will not be flying under radar, but will host its first-round match.
READY TO DANCE: UC Irvine broke onto the college soccer scene last season with an outstanding debut in the NCAA Tournament. Opening-round shutouts of Arizona State and national power Wake Forest vaulted them into the Sweet Sixteen where they took Washington into double overtime.
Like last year, the 'Eaters are slated as a two-seed in their part of the bracket that includes USD and potential matchups with UCLA, Pepperdine, and conference rival Long Beach State.
DOUBLE TAKE: The Anteaters bring back much of their squad from the last tournament. Nineteen players on the current roster were present in 2010 including eight starters.
Devon Delarosa (San Diego / Rancho Bernardo), who was a sophomore last year, had a pair of goals, both coming in the same match. CoCo Goodson (Ramona / University of Texas) also scored and added an assist.
Junior Dana Sanderlin (Upland / Upland HS) has made her marking putting eight of 12 shots on goal.
This combined with the new infusion of youth and talent such as Natalia Ledezma (La Mirada / UCLA), Cami Privett (Bakersfield / Frontier HS), and Jennifer Randazzo (San Jose / Presentation HS) have a chance to make some more noise this time around.
GREAT SCOTT: Anteater Head Coach Scott Juniper continues to make a name for himself in the college soccer world. In just five seasons, he has taken a team that was last in the Big West to it's second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. His record of 64-30-10 and back-to-back Big West regular season titles in his first five seasons is unprecedented.
SAN DIEGO TOREROS: UC Irvine opens the 2011 NCAA Tournament with the San Diego Toreros (12-7, 7-1), a school that UCI played to round out non-conference play.
The 'Eaters battled at San Diego on a muddy field, and after trailing, 1-0, at halftime, mounted a furious rally early in the second half scoring three times in a five-minute span, first by Ledezma followed by consecutive strikes from Privett as UCI would eventually hang on for the 3-2 win.
The Toreros had an enormous win over No. 7 Santa Clara handing the Broncos its second loss of the year to close out the season. Since its match against UCI, USD had a one-goal loss to No. 8 Pepperdine, but followed that with a seven-match win streak that lifted them to a share of the West Coast Conference title. USD has defeated common opponents Santa Clara, Saint Mary's, and Pacific while falling to LBSU all at home. In road tilts, the Toreros have defeated Portland while falling to CS Fullerton
Stephanie Ochs has been a dominant figure with eight goals and 11 assists to lead the team. Natalie Garcia (5 G, 2 GWG, 1 A) and Elissa Magracia (4 G, 3 GWG, 7 A) have been great complimentary players to Ochs. Torero keeper Courtney Parsons has allowed 17 goals all season and posted six shutouts. The team has had a lot of success in the opening period outscoring their opponents, 17-5.
These two schools met last season at UCI with the 'Eaters winning, 1-0. All-time, USD leads the series, 10-6. Away from home in 2011, the Toreros are 5-3.
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