FRONTINO AND CENTER
The Anteaters kept their season alive with a clutch win over UC Santa Barbara on Sunday. Bianca Frontino stepped up with her first two goals of the year over the weekend, and has been the catalyst of the defense since making the switch.
Frontino's goal came with 42 seconds remaining in the match bringing to mind other late tallies:
Natalia Ledezma beat the keeper with 31 seconds remaining in sold-out Provo, Utah to down No. 6 BYU, 1-0, last season.
Jordan Utvich flicked on a Zoya Farzaneh cross with 44 seconds to go against the same BYU squad at Anteater Stadium to open the 2012 season and send it to overtime.
Late in 2013, Rachel Wood stepped up for the game-winning penalty kick to down LBSU, 1-0, with 55 seconds remaining in double overtime.
Zuri Walker blasted a game-winning goal with exactly one minute to go in double overtime to upend the Gauchos, 1-0, on the road in 2010.
Back in 1997, the 'Eaters took the Big West Tournament title in dramatic fashion. UCI trailed in overtime until Stephanie Rigamat knotted it up at 2-2 with 43 seconds to go. The game-winner wouldn't come until the 146th minute when Katie Sheppard delivered the crushing blow and scored the clincher for UC Irvine.
STUDY TABLE
UC Irvine set the table well in non-conference play. The trying schedule, ranked 55th-toughest in the nation, saw UC Irvine at 4-5-2 with a 2-3-1 record against squads in the nation's top-55 of the RPI rankings at its conclusion.
The Anteaters have a total record of 47-31-7 in non-conference play since Coach Juniper took the helm. The 2014 Anteaters are his third squad to manage four or more home wins in non-conference play.
UCI has fallen behind the pack in the conference with CSUN, Cal Poly, and LBSU, reaching the ever-important 11-point plateau.
The Anteaters still have at least one game to make up on the entire conference except for CSUF. UCI can take another massive step back into the race with a win against CSUF on Thursday.
With four matches to go, UCI stands four points out of the final tournament spot with 12 possible points still to claim for the Anteaters.
Another notable feature to the remaining schedule is that CSUF, UC Riverside and UCSB all have to face each other with the potential to take points away from one another.
UC Irvine's final road includes the perk of facing the conference's bottom dwellers in Hawai'I and UC Davis. By no means is any matchup in the Big West an afterthought, but UCI has a few key advantages working in their favor:
The Rainbow Wahine have allowed 17 more goals than the 'Eaters have in the same amount of matches (15) this season.
Hawai'I has just one Big West road win since joining the conference in 2012 and have won in California just twice since 2010.
The Aggies average a goal every two matches (9 goals in 17 matches).
UC Davis has scored just three goals in eight home matches in 2014, one in three conference matches.
COPA DEL MUNDIAL
A pair of Anteaters have already had plenty to train for over the summer being summoned to the under-20 Women's World Cup. Juniors Clarissa Robles and Claudia Lopez represented Mexico this past month in Canada.
Robles played the entirety of all three matches on the backline. Lopez started two matches as a forward. Mexico failed to advance past the group stage following 1-1 draws to Nigeria and England and a 2-1 loss to South Korea.
KEEP IT TITAN
The Cal State Fullerton Titans reached the NCAA Tournament in 2013 with a magnificent tournament run finishing with an 8-7-7 record. The 2014 Titans have weathered a tough schedule to go 4-7-4 with tough losses to Michigan State, Denver, Georgia, and Pepperdine while drawing BYU and San Diego State.
Recently, the Titans upended a streaking Cal State Northridge squad to make them 2-0-2 in Big West play. CSUF holds the series edge at 10-8-4 against the 'Eaters, while the squads are an even 5-5-2 in Titan Stadium. UCI took the regular season matchup in 2013, 1-0.
Offensively, the Titans are run by junior Rebecca Wilson who has buried half of the squad's goals with eight. Her 16 points are 12 more than any other Titan. Christin Burkenroad actually paces the team with 42 shots and has a goal and two assists to her name. Defender Jazzmin Mancilla leads the team with three assists.
She and her linemates Morgan Batcheller, and Colleen Ortega have also assisted in three shutouts on the year. Freshman Morgan Bertsch began the year in net, and recently returned to shutout CSUN last week. Sophomore Jennifer Stuart has actually started 10 matches stopping 31 shots and earning three wins.
The Titans have strength in stamina reaching overtime in nine matches this season. The defensive-minded squad has allowed the least amount of shots on goal and ranks near the bottom in fouls committed and yellow cards along with UCI. CSUF has found a way to earn over six corner kicks per match to lead all conference contenders.
RISING CSUN
The Matadors have burst into Big West play and asserted themselves as the top contender for the regular season title winning its first four matches before coming back down to Earth last week against CSUF. CSUN went just 3-7-1 in non-conference play with wins over common opponents, USD and Gonzaga, while fighting tough against the likes of Santa Clara, Arizona State, and ranked foes, No. 7 Michigan and No. 20 Kansas.
CSUN went 6-12-1 in 2013 following a Big West Tournament title in 2012. All-time, UCI is 6-7-4 against the Matadors including a 2-1 victory last season.
Lyndsey Preston and Cynthia Sanchez lead the squad with three goals each, two each coming in Big West play. Tabatha Dickson (2 G, 1 A), Melissa Lopez (1 G, 3 A), and Leandra Walker (2 G, 1 A) all compliment the scorers with five points each. Brittanie Sakajian has also shown up with all four of her points in conference play.
The goalkeeping has been split evenly, eight matches apiece, by Jovani McCaskill and Cynthia Tafoya. McCaskill has been responsible for the last eight matches and five wins allowing just four goals while stopping 35 shots.
The Matadors don't lean too heavily on one stat, however, they do have a tendency to be drawn offsides.
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