UC Irvine Kicks Off NCAA Tournament Tonight in Anteater Stadium
November 20, 2014 | Men's Soccer
NCAA First Round
UNLV Rebels 0-3 UC Irvine Anteaters
Thurs, Nov. 20 / 7:00 PM
Anteater Stadium
Tickets
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Scoreboard
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Bracket
NCAA Second Round
UC Irvine Anteaters at No. 6 Stanford Cardinal
Sun. Nov. 23 / 5:00 PM
Palo Alto, Calif.
Bracket
'EATERS AT LARGE
The Anteaters are in the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in program history and first time as an at-large representative.
UCI's previous trips have seen them as the No. 8, No. 12, No. 14, and No. 16 national seed. Thursday's match will be the program's first-ever first round matchup.
The 'Eaters have gone 2-2 in tournament openers defeating Cal Poly, 3-0, in 2008 and shocking North Carolina, 1-0, with two seconds left in regulation last year. Defeats have come against Stanford, 1-0, in 2009, and again in 2011 when Saint Mary's dealt UCI a 2-1, double-overtime loss.
UCI made its second appearance in the Sweet Sixteen last season falling, 1-0, at No. 3 national seed Maryland. The team suffered a similar blow in its first trip to the third round in 2008 falling, 3-2, also to the No. 3 national seed in St. John's.
SEASONED TO PERFECTION
The 'Eaters began the season unbeaten in non-conference play going 8-0-1 in a stretch that included seven matches away from home. Their unbeaten streak ran to 10 after a draw in the Big West opener, the second-longest streak in program history.
Two national seeds were in that mix. UCI defeated Clemson, 2-1, on a neutral site before travelling to Georgetown where they played to a 1-1 draw. Clemson won the ACC Tournament and sits as a No. 7 national seed while Georgetown snagged a No. 8 seed.
The 'Eaters also racked up three more wins against NCAA participants in non-conference play. They defeated Summit League champion and 19th-ranked Denver, 2-1, on a neutral site in early September. The 'Eaters scored a home, 1-0, overtime win over West Coast Conference champion San Diego. Also, UC Irvine's first round opponent, UNLV, fell, 4-2, to the 'Eaters before claiming the Western Athletic Conference tournament title this past week.
The Anteaters also hosted No. 15 national seed Cal in an exhibition match at Anteater Stadium. UC Irvine won the match, 3-1, with the lone Golden Bear goal coming via penalty kick.
One Big West school joins the 'Eaters in the tournament. Cal State Fullerton broke the tie in penalty kicks in the tournament final to earn an automatic bid. The 'Eaters won a pair of 1-0 matches over the Titans in the regular season before settling on a scoreless draw in the tournament final.
UC Irvine finished 3-0-1 against ranked foes with wins over No. 19 Denver, No. 24 UC Santa Barbara, and No. 25 Clemson while drawing No. 6 Georgetown. All four matches came away from home.
SAVE THE LAST DANCE
The Anteaters return 12 players that saw action in last year's tournament. Michael Sperber has the only point from any active players having assisted on Christopher Santana's game-winning goal against UNC.
Michael Breslin started each match in net last season. He was untested in the second round match as the defense allowed just three shots with none on target. He made a pair of saves against Maryland while allowing one goal.
Breslin was a redshirt on the 2011 squad that earned a berth. Six other 'Eaters are holdovers from that team, as well, including Lester Hayes III who was a starter and Cameron Iwasa who came in off the bench. Other members Mitchell Alvarez, Bryan Breslin, Daniel Coates, and Dennis Martinez were present, but did not see any action that evening.
Iwasa played in his 10th postseason match on Saturday tying him for the program record with Jimmy Turner while Hayes III is the only active 'Eater to start three NCAA Tournament matches.
Daily Pilot article featuring Cameron
REBEL DEFIANCE
UNLV earned its sixth NCAA Tournament appearance after settling a 1-1 draw in penalty kicks, 4-2, to win the Western Athletic Conference Tournament. The Rebels end a drought of 26 years since their last appearance back when it was a member of the Big West Conference and earned the automatic bid back in 1988.
UNLV made all five of its appearances from 1983-88 winning opening-round matches against Cal in 1983, Fresno State in 1985, and San Francisco in 1987. The Rebels have made noise every time they've gone to the dance going to overtime in four of its seven matches and penalty kicks in its most recent in 1988. The 1987 team had to forfeit its second round match after winning the opening contest with an ineligible player.
The 2014 Rebels stand at 14-4-3, tied with the Anteaters for the third-most wins in the nation. Their notable win was a 1-0 victory against NCAA tourney participant, UMBC, ranked 14th at the time. All-time, the Rebels have won 17 of the 23 meetings, however, UCI has won the last three matchups scoring four times in each, and have not lost in regulation to UNLV in its last eight contests dating back to 1994.
The Rebels and 'Eaters have faced two common opponents. UNLV shut down UC Riverside, 2-0, as part of the Rebel Classic. In conference play, the Rebels dropped upstart Utah Valley, 1-0, on the road. The Rebels have had road success going 6-1 in true road matches, and is 8-1-1 in all matches away from home.
UNLV likes to crank it up on the offensive end scoring the fifth-most goals in the country with 44. Salvador Bernal leads the pack with eight goals, three coming from the penalty spot, and three game-winners. Danny Musovski has posted six goals and assisted on six others. Julian Portugal ties Musovski for the team lead with six assists, as well. Rodrigo Fuentes and Kyle Mellies have five goals each, and are part of the 10 Rebels to put away multiple goals and a game-winner.
The backline is patrolled by Mellies along with Bradley Kamdem, Connor Coletti, and Jason Khamvongsa. Behind them is keeper Ryan Harding who has started all 21 matches facing just 77 shots on goal all season saving 54 while allowing 23 goals. The defense did not relinquish a penalty attempt during the year, however, Harding did save two of the four tries in the shootout to claim the conference tournament title.
Both squads play similar games taking just over 14 shots per match while committing just under 11 fouls. The squads both also allowed 23 goals on the season. UNLV matches saw seven more goals come after halftime while two-thirds of the goals in UCI matches came after the half including four of the six goals in the meeting earlier this year.
The teams' regular season meeting on Sept. 26 was a goalfest. UCI scored twice in the first half via Gor Kirakosyan in the 18th minute and Dennis Martinez in the 22nd minute, and each team put up seven shot attempts in the opening frame. UNLV battled back in the 62nd minute via a Julien Dragomir-chip, but Gerardo Gonzalez deposited his first career goal just three minutes later on a breakaway. The Rebels returned fire in the 74th minute when Musovski beat Michael Breslin down the left wing, but Cameron Iwasa helped the 'Eaters keep their distance after Martinez forced a turnover and fed the captain in the 86th minute to cap the 4-2 victory. Harding stopped one chance on the night while Breslin came up with five saves in a match that featured five corners, 20 total fouls, and a single yellow card in the 29th minute.
A win for either side would mean a trip to Stanford, the No. 6 national seed. UCI is winless in eight meetings with them.
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