No. 12 'Eaters, No. 5 Terps Tackle NCAA Third Round
November 27, 2013 | Men's Soccer
UPCOMING MATCHES
NCAA Tournament Third Round
[12] UC Irvine Anteaters at [5] Maryland Terrapins
Sun., Dec. 1, 2013 / 2:00 PM (5:00 PM ET)
College Park, Md. / Ludwig Field
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Twitter Updates: @UCImsoc / #MSOC
Series: First meeting
HEADERS
- The Anteaters have reached the Sweet Sixteen for the second time, first since 2008, and put a Big West school in the third round for the ninth time in the last 11 years.
- UC Irvine claimed its fourth bid to the NCAA Tournament in 2013 with all four trips as a national seed (Nos. 8, 12, 14, and 16).
- 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, nine fewer than the next school (83 - UCSB) including zero allowed in its second round match against UNC.
- The 'Eaters are unbeaten (13-0-2) when scoring a goal in the second half.
- Michael Breslin leads all Big West keepers in shutouts (10) and minutes played (2,058) while his 0.79 goals-against-average leads the conference and is 31st in the nation. Breslin has a 348-minute scoreless streak intact adding to streaks of 290, 224, and 212 minutes during the season.
FREE KICKS
- 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
- Lester Hayes III will be returning to Maryland where he went to high school at nearby DeMatha Catholic HS.
- 14 Anteaters remain from the 2011 team that reached the NCAA Tournament including Marco Franco, Lester Hayes III, Tarek Morad, Christopher Santana, Enrique Cardenas, Cameron Iwasa, and Victor Calderon who all saw action.
- Five Anteaters were named Big West Player of the Week: Mats Bjurman, Mitchell Alvarez and Enrique Cardenas have taken home offensive honors while Michael Breslin joins Marco Franco on the defensive end.
- UCI has five players over the 1,900-minute mark; Marco Franco, Tarek Morad, Mats Bjurman, and Thomas Janjigian along with keeper Michael Breslin who is the lone 'Eater to play all 2,048.
- Enrique Cardenas has converted all three of his penalty kick tries in 2013. UCI has converted eight of its last nine PK tries dating back to 2009 including four this season.
ADDITIONAL BOOKINGS
- Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Michael Breslin has racked up some standing in the Anteater record books:
Records Season All-Time
Wins 15 (2nd) 20 (5th)
Shutouts 10 (2nd) 13 (T-4th)
Win Percentage .750 (T-4th) .550 (5th)
Goals-Against-Average 0.79 (3rd) 1.16 (3rd)
- Enrique Cardenas has a point in three straight matches, the third occurrence this season and fourth of his career.
- 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.
TERRAPIN SNIPPETS
- UC Irvine will travel to the University of Maryland, the No. 5 national seed, for its third round match. After never facing an ACC opponent, the 'Eaters will tackle one for the second straight week and for the first time away from home.
- The Terrapins are making their 33rd appearance in the tournament, 13th consecutive, and 12th straight in which they have reached the third round. Maryland has reached the College Cup in seven of the last 15 seasons including in 2012, tied for most in the nation, and won national titles in 2005 and 2008.
- The Terrapins are 14-3-5 after a 3-1 victory in the second round over Providence. Both Maryland and UCI enter the match riding eight-match win streaks, both tops in the nation.
- The lone common opponent between the schools is UNC which the Terps tied on the road back in September.
- Patrick Mullins paces the Terps with 15 goals, four game-winners, and eight assist to lead all players.
- Schillo Tshuma and Jake Pace added six goals each for a team that averaged over two goals a match and was never shut out.
- Zack Steffen played all 2,097 minutes in goal stopping 60 shots and posting a 1.16 goals-against-average.
- Maryland matches saw an average of three total goals scored. Both schools had a +10 or better goal differential and scored nearly 2/3 of their goals in the second half of matches.
- Here's how the squads match up statistically:
Stat UC Irvine Maryland
Goals 33 47
Goals allowed 18 27
Shots 311 330
% on goal 41.2 % 45.5 %
Shots allowed 183 206
Shots on goal allowed 74 87
Corner kicks 120 145
Fouls 292 220
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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