No. 12 Anteaters Tangle with Stanford, No. 7 UCLA
September 03, 2012 | Men's Soccer
THIS WEEK'S MATCHES
Stanford Cardinal vs. UC Irvine Anteaters
Date / Time: Fri. Sept. 7, 2012 / 7:00 PM
Site: Irvine, Calif. / Anteater Stadium
Live Stats: ucirvinesports.com
Twitter Updates: @UCIAthletics / #MSOC
No. 12 UC Irvine Anteaters vs. No. 7 UCLA Bruins
Date / Time: Sun. Sept. 9, 2012 / 2:00 PM
Site: Los Angeles, Calif. / Drake Stadium
TV: Pac-12 Network
Live Stats: ucirvinesports.com
Twitter Updates: @UCIAthletics / #MSOC
STORY LINES
- Sunday's UC Irvine-UCLA match will be televised on the Pac-12 Network. The match will pit the No. 7 Bruins against the No. 12 Anteaters.
- UCI is 1-8-0 all-time at UCLA. The one win came in 2000 as UCI defeated the No. 2 Bruins, 1-0.
- UC Irvine has not played a Pac-12 conference opponent in the last two seasons. Technically, UCI has never played a school from the Pac-12.
- The last member of the conference UCI played was Stanford in 2009 in an NCAA Second Round match when it was apart of the Pac-10 Conference. UCI fell, 1-0, at Anteater Stadium.
- UCLA is 1-1-1 in 2012 including an overtime win, a draw with No. 6 Maryland, and a loss to No. 6 New Mexico.
- Stanford is currently 1-2-0 in 2012 with all three matches coming away from home.
- UC Irvine has won its last 13 home non-conference regular season matches. It has won the last 19 home non-conference matches against schools not named Saint Mary's.
- UCI was 8-2 in regular season non-conference matchups in 2011. Both of its losses came on the road to top-10 programs South Florida and Creighton.
- The Anteaters played six non-conference road matches with none of them coming in California. UCI scored wins in Wisconsin and Illinois while going 1-1 in Florida and Nebraska.
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.
- UCI's non-conference schedule includes a five-match road trip with visits to No. 2 UCLA and No. 6 New Mexico.
- UCI is the first of three Big West opponents on UCLA's schedule. It also has trips to UCSB and Cal Poly later in September.
- Stanford will play one other Big West school: UCSB in late October.
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.
WHAT WE LEARNED
- FULL GOR: Junior Transfer Gor Kirakosyan is making his presence felt with three goals in two matches and five of his seven shots on target.
- BRAND NEW: The youth are getting their chance this season. Eight freshmen have seen the pitch including redshirt freshman Michael Breslin and true freshman Matthew Tilley who have earned starting nods.
- POSSESSED: UCI is controlling the match outshooting their opponents an average of 22-8 in each match. In addition, 52% of the team's shots have been on target and 21% of those result in goals.
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 21 starts with the Sounders.
- In the Sounders' all-time records, Evans ranks fifth in games played (94), 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 five goals and three assists.
- Fontein is currently with the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the NASL, but has yet to see playing time
STANFORDS AND PRACTICES
- Head Coach Jeremy Gunn is in his 13th season of coaching and first at Stanford.
- In 2011, Coach Gunn was named NSCAA National Coach of the Year after he took the Charlotte 49ers to the NCAA Championship match before falling to top-ranked North Carolina.
- The Cardinal have been to 11 College Cups, three Final Fours, and were runners-up twice in 1998 and 2002.
- Stanford is coming off a 6-10-2 season in 2011 and have not had a winning season since 2009.
- Adam Jahn (4 G, 2 A) and Dersu Abolfathi (3 G, 0 A) are the team's returning leading scorers. They are also the only returners to score a game-winner in 2011. Jahn has one of the Cardinal's two goals in 2012.
TROUBLE BRUIN
- Head Coach Jorge Salcedo is in his 12th season of coaching at UCLA, ninth as the head coach.
- In 2007, UCLA went 9-9-3. It is the only season in the program's existence that it failing to produce a winning record and at least 10 wins.
- UCLA has been apart of 45 of 51 NCAA Tournaments including the last 29 in a row. The Bruins won NCAA Championships in 1985, 1990, 1997, and 2002.
- Reed Williams leads the Bruins with two goals and five points.
______________________________________________________________________
For UC Irvine Athletics ticket information, please call (949) 824-5000 or e-mail athletics.tickets@uci.edu. For more information click here.
For information on how you can help support UC Irvine Athletics, please call (949) 824-6933 or e-mail aaf@uci.edu. For additional information, click here.
For information on the UCI/Scott Brooks Golf Tournament, please click here.
Players Mentioned
Goalkeeper
/ Men's SoccerGoalkeeper
/ Men's SoccerForward/Midfielder
/ Men's SoccerForward/Midfielder
/ Men's SoccerMidfielder
/ Men's SoccerDefender
/ Men's SoccerForward
/ Men's SoccerDefender
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