Box Score IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine did everything right against the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine Sunday afternoon except for get the ball past keeper Kanani Taaca in an unnerving double-overtime 0-0 tie.
The single point from the tie earned UCI (9-8-3, 5-1-3) a berth in the Big West Tournament. A loss by Long Beach State further solidified the Anteaters' spot.
UC Irvine's season will continue on Thursday, November 1st with a 7:30 p.m. matchup against the No. 1-seeded Cal State Fullerton Titans who earned the Big West Conference regular season title. The No. 2-seeded CSUN Matadors and No. 3-seeded Cal Poly Mustangs will square off Thursday as well at 5:00 p.m. with both matches and the championship match on Sunday coming at Anteater Stadium.
As for the season finale, UCI commanded every major statistic on the stat sheet. UCI's 34 shots were one off of the Big West single-game high this season. UCI had 17 shots on target, all of them saved, including a critical penalty kick opportunity by Rachel Wood in the 95th minute.
Hawaii keeper Kanani Taaca made all the saves she was supposed to and then some with a total of 15 saves to tie a Big West single-game high on the season. Her teammates helped out with two team saves on the afternoon.
UCI outshot the Rainbow Wahine by 10 shots in each regulation period. It added to that in the overtime periods with an 11-0 advantage on shots with five on target. UCI also had 14 corner kicks, 11 of them coming in the second period alone.
Mar Rodriguez and Jenna Pellegrino each led the charge with six shots in the match, Rodriguez led all players with four on target.
In turn, Hawaii (8-9-3, 3-5-1) only had three shots in the entire match and zero on target. The totals are both lows amongst Big West schools tying several others in the shots on goal category while the three total shots for Hawaii is the lowest allowed by any Big West school in 2012.
But with all the stats, the match still finished in a draw, UCI's third of the season. It is also the Anteaters' fifth shutout and third consecutive. Corey Tobin has not allowed a goal in 436:31 which has spanned UCI's last four matches which have all gone into double overtime (1-0-3).
In a day for celebration of entrance to the Big West Tournament, the Anteaters also celebrated its seniors: Janelly Farias, Rachel Wood, Jackie Samis, Mar Rodriguez, Devon Delarosa, and Dana Sanderlin. For Delarosa, it was her 83rd career match tying the previous UCI career record. Sanderlin was one of those to tie the mark, and she broke it with her appearance on Sunday. She also started her 80th career match becoming just the third Anteater to do that.
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