No. 11 UCI Begins Road Trip with Bears, No. 8 Lobos
September 10, 2012 | Men's Soccer
No. 11 UC Irvine Anteaters vs. Missouri State Bears
Date / Time: Fri. Sept. 14, 2012 / 4:30 PM
Site: Albuquerque, N.M. / Lobo Soccer Complex
Live Stats: ucirvinesports.com
Twitter Updates: @UCIAthletics / #MSOC
No. 11 UC Irvine Anteaters at No. 8 New Mexico Lobos
Date / Time: Sun. Sept. 16, 2012 / 1:00 PM
Site: Albuquerque, N.M. / Lobo Soccer Complex
Live Stats: ucirvinesports.com
Twitter Updates: @UCIAthletics / #MSOC
STORY LINES
- Missouri State has been a neutral site monster early on playing four of its six matches on neutral sites with a record of 3-0-1 in those matches.
- The Bears have not given up a goal in their last five matches.
- Missouri State is 4-0-2 this season coming off a 9-8-2 record in 2011. They defeated a No. 2 Creighton squad before falling to them in the Missouri Valley Tournament.
- UCI is the only team west of the Rockies that Missouri State will face this season.
- New Mexico is currently ranked eighth in the nation. This could possibly be the last MPSF team UCI ever faces.
- The Lobos are 3-1-0 with wins over ranked UCLA and UAB squads and an SMU team that made the NCAA Tournament in 2011.
- UCI has played Missouri State once back in 2005. The neutral-site match ended in a 0-0 draw.
- The Anteaters also played MVC foe Bradley in 2005. Recently, UCI has faced MVC members Drake in 2010 and 2011 and Creighton in 2011. Overall, the 'Eaters are 1-3-2 against the Missouri Valley Conference.
- UCI and UNM have battled 11 times since 1987 with UCI holding a 6-5-0 edge. The two have faced off just once since 2003 as UCI won in 2009 at UNM in overtime, 2-1.
- The Lobos' loss to Tulsa this season was its first loss since 2010. The Lobos went undefeated in 2011 at 18-0-4 before they were knocked out of the NCAA Tournament on penalty kicks
- UC Irvine has won its last nine matches against MPSF opponents dating back to 2005 which includes schools Air Force, Denver, CSU Bakersfield, New Mexico, San Jose State, and UNLV.
ON THE HORIZON
- The Anteaters play 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 are currently 1-1-0 on the road in 2012.
- UCI's non-conference schedule includes a five-match road trip with visits to No. 14 UCLA and No. 8 New Mexico.
- UCI is the only Big West school on the schedule for Missouri State and New Mexico.
QUICK HITS
- The Big West Conference has been split into the North and South Divisions with the addition of its eighth member, Sacramento State, in 2012. UCI will face each school in the North Division once while facing each school in the South Division twice, once at each location.
- UC Irvine finished second in the Big West in goals and goals-against-average in 2011.
NUMEROLOGY
- The Anteaters were the only Big West school with two players (Miguel Ibarra, Christian Hernandez) scoring 24 points or more 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 played in the Elite Eight and none of them played every one of their school's minutes.
- UCI played in front of attendances of over 1,000 fans six times in 2011. In those matches, UCI went 5-1 outscoring their opponents 12-5. In 2012, UCI is 0-1-0 after falling to No. 14 UCLA in front of a crowd of 1,454.
ROAD TESTS
- MORE DEBUTS: New faces continued to litter the playing field for UCI. This week is saw expanded roles for freshmen Austin Burke and the first career start for George Mansour. Freshmen Pavle Atanckovic and Renato Torquato each got their first minutes of their careers as well in Sunday's match against UCLA.
- SECONDARY: UC Irvine gave up its first second half goals of the season to UCLA. It had outscored its opponent 6-0 before UCLA scored twice in the final seven minutes on Sunday.
PRESEASON
- UC Irvine begins the season with its highest 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 Anteaters 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.
SOCCER AT THE NEXT LEVEL
- Brad Evans scored the opening goal of a 6-2 win over Chivas USA last weekend. He would add an on the Sounders' second goal. He has two goals and two assists in 23 starts with the Sounders.
- In the Sounders' all-time records, Evans ranks fifth in games played (97), tied for fifth in goals (14), and tied for fifth in assists (14).
- Two Anteaters were drafted in the 2011 MLS Supplemental draft. Miguel Ibarra went in the second round with Andrew Fontein following in the third round.
- Ibarra has taken up roots with the Minnesota Stars FC of the NASL starting in all but one match and garnering mid-season rookie of the year considerations with a pair of goals and one assist.
- Alongside Ibarra on the Stars is Amani Walker. Walker is second on the team with six goals and three assists.
- Fontein is currently with the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the NASL, but has yet to see playing time.
BEAR NECESSITIES
- Head Coach Jon Leamy is in his 21st season as Missouri State's head coach.
- Leamy has accumulated 207 wins with the program and led them to their only three NCAA Tournament appearances ('97, '99, '09)
- The Bears finished 2011 at 9-8-2. It was their third consecutive winning season and 16th in the 20 years under coach Leamy.
- The offense is led by junior Cole Alexander with three goals.
- Missouri State has had a different scorer net the game-winner in each of its four wins.
- Sophomore Andrew Riggs has allowed just one goal on the season to go along with 21 saves. He saw just 22 minutes of action as a freshman last season.
NO BULL LOBOS
- Head Coach Jeff Fishbein is in his 20th season of coaching, 11th with New Mexico.
- Fishbein has led the Lobos to winning records in 10 of his 11 years while leading them to the NCAA Tournament in nine of those years.
- New Mexico finished 2011 at 18-0-4 before falling to South Florida in the NCAA Third Round via penalty kicks.
- The Lobos were ranked No. 1 in the nation for the final two weeks of the regular season.
- Seniors Devon Sandoval (3 G, 7 Pts) and Blake Smith (2 G, 6 Pts) lead the Lobos in scoring.
- UNM keepers Victor Rodriguez and Pat Poblete have split time in net. Rodriguez is 2-0-0 with one goal allowed and four saves while Poblete, a redshirt sophomore, is 1-1-0 with four goals allowed and 10 saves.
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Players Mentioned
Forward/Midfielder
/ Men's SoccerGoalkeeper
/ Men's SoccerForward/Midfielder
/ Men's SoccerForward/Midfielder
/ Men's SoccerDefender/Midfielder
/ Men's SoccerDefender
/ Men's SoccerForward
/ Men's SoccerForward/Midfielder
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