No. 12 Anteaters, Tar Heels Clash in NCAA Second Round

Box Score

UPCOMING MATCHES

NCAA Tournament Second Round

North Carolina Tar Heels at [12] UC Irvine Anteaters

Sun., Nov. 24, 2013 / 2:00 PM
Irvine, Calif. / Anteater Stadium

Live Stats
Twitter Updates: @UCImsoc / #MSOC

Series: First meeting

 

HEADERS

  • UC Irvine claimed its fourth bid to the NCAA Tournament as the No. 12 national seed. All four appearances have been as a national seed: No. 14 in its inaugural trip in 2008, again in 2009 as the No. 16 seed, and its highest for No. 8 in 2011.
  • UCI defeated CSUN, 1-0, to win its fourth Big West Tournament title. The 'Eaters improve to 8-1 all-time in the Big West Tournament and a perfect 4-0 in championship matches.
  • UC Irvine secured its first Big West South division title and fourth overall Big West regular season title.
  • UC Irvine claimed Big West Midfielder of the Year (Enrique Cardenas) and Defender of the Year (Marco Franco). Each were also named All-Big West First Team with five other 'Eaters (Michael Breslin, Cameron Iwasa, Michael Sperber, Tarek Morad, Christopher Santana) named All-Big West.
  • The 'Eaters have allowed 74 shots on goal, lowest in the Big West, six fewer than the next school (80 - UCSB).
  • The 'Eaters are unbeaten (12-0-2) when scoring a goal in the second half.
  • Michael Breslin leads all Big West keepers in shutouts (9), minutes played (1,868), goals-against-average (0.86), and second in conference saves (38).
  • Breslin has had scoreless streaks of 290, 224, and 212 minutes during the season. He has currently gone 258 minutes without surrendering a goal.

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  • UC Irvine has defeated its last six ranked opponents including a perfect 5-0 in 2013:

Date                                  School                                  Rank         Score

Nov. 17, 2013         Cal State Northridge                        25             1-0

Nov. 9, 2013           Cal State Northridge                        20             2-1

Oct. 26, 2013        at Cal State Northridge                      5               1-0

Sept. 19, 2013                  UCLA                                     11              3-1

Sept. 13, 2013            at Louisville                                 16              1-0

Nov. 3, 2012        at Cal State Northridge                      21              1-0

  • The 'Eaters have 13 wins over teams ranked in the top-20 in the program's history.
  • This season marks the sixth time in the last seven years UCI has collected five or more non-conference wins.

CORNERS

ADDITIONAL BOOKINGS

  • Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Michael Breslin has racked up some standing in the Anteater record books:

           Records                             Season               All-Time

           Wins                                 14 (T-2nd)           19 (5th)

           Shutouts                            9 (T-2nd)           12 (5th)

           Win Percentage                .738 (5th)           .538 (6th)

           Goals-Against-Average     0.82 (3rd)           1.19 (3rd)

           Saves                                136 (10th)               56

  • Enrique Cardenas has two three-match point streaks in 2013. He accounts for three of the last four streaks of this length dating back to 2011.
  • UCI's win over No. 11 UCLA was the 250th in the history of the program. In addition, its 2-1 victory over CSUF was its 150th in Anteater Stadium.
  • Cameron Iwasa's game-winning goal in the seventh minute against Cal Poly was the 1,000th goal by a UC Irvine soccer program in the history of Anteater Stadium.

TAR HEEL FOOTNOTES

  • The 'Eaters host ACC power North Carolina in the second round match, recipients of an at-large berth. The schools have never met on the pitch, in fact, this is the 'Eaters' first matchup with an ACC school in program history.
  • The Tar Heels are making their 21st appearance in the tournament, 14th in the last 15 years, and won national championships in 2001 and 2011.
  • UNC topped South Florida, 1-0, Thursday night marking its 30th NCAA Tournament win in program history. Omar Holness knocked in his second goal of the season off a corner kick in the fourth minute.
  • UNC stands at 9-5-5. The only common opponent between the schools was Indiana; UNC won at the Hoosiers, 1-0, in an exhibition match while UCI tied Indiana, 1-1, in Bloomington.
  • Tyler Engel leads UNC with six goals and four game-winners. Cooper Vandermaas-Peeler and Raby George have three each while Vandermaas-Peeler adds a team-high four assists.
  • Brendan Moore lowered his goals-against-average to 0.59. He ranked 11th in the nation going into the tournament.
  • The Tar Heels outscored their opponents 12-4 in the first half this season and have been outscored 8-7 after halftime.
  • Here's how the squads match up statistically:

Stat                         UC Irvine         North Carolina

Goals                           32                       19

Goals allowed              18                       12

Shots                          303                     242

% on goal                 41.3 %               38.0 %

Shots allowed            180                      170

Shots on goal allowed 74                       64

Corner kicks               117                       83

Fouls                          277                      227

SOCCER AT THE NEXT LEVEL

  • Brad Evans has earned a spot on the U.S. National squad this year. He has made 16 total appearances including three World Cup qualifiers and 10 matches in total in 2013. He scored his first international goal in a WCQ against Jamaica, a game-winner in stoppage time.
  • Evans is also the captain of the Seattle Sounders FC. He scored in the team's knockout round match to move them into the semifinals. Evans ranks in the top third in club history in matches played, starts, goals and assists. He scored in the Sounders' knockout round match against Colorado, and has four goals and a career-high five assists in 25 matches in 2013.
  • Three 'Eaters represent in the North American Soccer League: Andrew Fontein and Amani Walker with the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Miguel Ibarra with Minnesota United FC. Ibarra started 28 matches contributing immensely along with a goal and two assists. Walker's season was cut short due to injury while Fontein has three starts in net in which he stopped 14 shots.

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