THIS WEEK'S MATCHES

UC Riverside Highlanders at UC Irvine Anteaters
Date / Time: Wed. Oct. 31, 2012 / 7:00 PM
Site: Irvine, Calif. / Anteater Stadium
Live Stats: ucirvinesports.com
Twitter Updates: @UCIAthletics / #MSOC

 

UC Irvine Anteaters at #14 Cal State Northridge Matadors
Date / Time: Sat. Nov. 3, 2012 / 7:00 PM
Site: Northridge, Calif. / Matador Soccer Field
Live Stats: ucirvinesports.com
Twitter Updates: @UCIAthletics / #MSOC

FREE KICKS

• UC Irvine has won the Big West regular season title each of the last two seasons. It also has three Big West Tournament titles in the last four years including a 2011 win over UC Santa Barbara in double overtime.
• The 2012 scoring breakdown has seen nine goals from sophomores, eight from juniors, and four from freshmen.
• UCI is 0-6-0 against ranked teams in 2012. All six losses have come by one point; three in the final 10 minutes of regulation, one in overtime, and two in double overtime.
• UCI has never won on Halloween: 0-5 all-time, 0-3 at home.
• Ten of UCI's 13 losses have come by a single goal while three of its four wins have come by more than one.

• The Anteaters played 10 regular season non-conference matches: seven on the road, five outside California, and three against 2011 College Cup participants (UCLA, New Mexico, and Louisville). They went 3-6-1 in non-conference.
• UCI's goal against Louisville came in the first half. It was only the fifth goal out of the 22 it has scored to come before halftime.

• The Big West Conference has been split into the North and South Divisions with the addition of its eighth member, Sacramento State, in 2012. The top two teams in each division will make the Big West Tournament.
• Everett Pitts was named a candidate for the Senior CLASS Award. Andrew Fontein was a finalist in 2011.
• Gor Kirakosyan earned Big West Offensive Player of the Week honors on September 3rd.
• Redshirt freshman keeper Michael Breslin ranks second among Big West keepers with 78 saves.
• Freshman midfielder Matthew Tilley was recently named to the Freshman Top 100 according to @TopDrawerSoccer coming in at No. 75. on the list.

• UCI was the only Big West school with two players (Miguel Ibarra, Christian Hernandez) to compile 24+ points in 2011.
• UCI keeper Andrew Fontein played all 2,160 minutes in net for UCI. Only five keepers played more minutes in 2011 than Fontein; all of them reached the Elite Eight and none of them played every one of their school's minutes.

• LONE RANGER: Sophomore Cameron Iwasa remains the only 'Eater to appear (and start) in every match this season. He has played in 1,611 of the 1,701 total minutes in 2012.
• CROWD PLEASERS: UCI is averaging nearly 2,000 fans in road matches, second-most among Big West schools. Overall, its 1,311 fans per match is third in the conference. On October 5th, UCI and UCSB played to the second largest crowd in the nation thus far of 7,822 fans.

• UC Irvine began the season with its highest ever ranking in the NSCAA/Continental Tire Preseason rankings at 13th in the nation.
• UC Irvine found its way onto the College Soccer News' (15th) and TopDrawerSoccer.com's (13th) preseason rankings.
• The 'Eaters were picked to finish first in the Big West South Division receiving six of eight first-place votes
• Senior defender Everett Pitts and junior midfielder Christopher Santana represented UCI on the Preseason All-Big West squad.

• Brad Evans and the Seattle Sounders FC are 15-7-11 having clinched a playoff berth. Evans has four goals and four assists in 28 starts with the Sounders. He scored twice in a 3-1 win over FC Dallas and played defender in a shutout of Real Salt Lake last week to earn MLS Player of the Week honors.
• Evans ranks tied for fourth all-time in games played (104), in goals (17), and in assists (16).
• Two Anteaters were drafted in the 2011 MLS Supplemental draft. Miguel Ibarra went in the second round to the Portland Timbers with Andrew Fontein following in the third round to the Vancouver Whitecaps.
• Ibarra has accrued four goals and four assists playing alongside Amani Walker with the Minnesota Stars FC of the NASL to compliment Walker's nine goals and five assists while Fontein is currently with the Tampa Bay Rowdies.
• The Stars and Rowdies squared off in the NASL Finals. Minnesota won the first leg, 2-0, but Tampa Bay came back with a 3-1 win in the second leg to send the match into penalty kicks that the Rowdies would eventually win.