No. 6 UC Irvine Season Warms Up with Big West Play in Hawai'i

UPCOMING MATCHES

No. 6 UC Irvine Athletics at No. 9 Hawaii Rainbow Wahine

Fri. Mar. 28, 2014 - 9:00 PM
Manoa, HI - Duke Kahanamoku Aquatics Complex

 

OPENING SPRINTS

Jessy Cardey scored three times on Sunday becoming the third Anteater with 200 career goals.

Hannah Croghan (145) and Danielle Warde (136) are current Anteaters with at least 100 career goals

McKenna Mitchell became the sixth Anteater with six goals in a match joining current 'Eaters Jessy Cardey and Hannah Croghan, and Erica Horman's seven-goal match from 2002.

Four Anteaters currently have 30+ goals;  Danielle Warde (38), Jessy Cardey (34), and Hannah Croghan (31), and McKenna Mitchell, the only 40-goal scorer thus far.

UCI has failed to score in four periods all season. It averages 11.6 goals per match.

UCI is allowing 6.14 goals per match including a 3.16 goals-against-average from Annika Nelson in 152 minutes.

POWER PLAYS

UC Irvine's win over No. 4 Arizona State matched the highest-ranked opponent UCI has defeated in the program's history. The 'Eaters upset No. 4 Hawaii in February of 2007, 10-4.

UCI had its highest finish in the UC Irvine Invitational finishing sixth.

The Anteaters have two wins in which they needed to overcome a halftime deficit. UCI beat UC Davis 8-5 after trailing 3-2 at the half, and defeated SDSU 13-6 after trailing 5-4.

KICKOUTS

UC Irvine captured Big West Player of the Week five times so far with Danielle Warde, Hannah Croghan, Jillian Yocum and McKenna Mitchell twice.

The Anteaters began the season ranked sixth in the nation and have been ranked as high as fifth. UCI finished 2013 ranked seventh in the nation with a record of 21-9.

UCI captured a share of the Big West regular season title in 2013, its fourth to match the four Big West Tournament titles.

STYLIN' HAWAIIANS

The 'Eaters trek to Hawai'I to open Big West play against the Rainbow Wahine.

Hawaii comes in with a 13-6 record on the season. In 2013, the team reached the NCAA Tournament finishing fourth with a 22-11 record.

The Rainbow Wahine and Anteaters matched up earlier this year as they opened the Stanford Invitational on February 1. UCI defeated Hawaii 9-4.

Elsewhere on the schedule, the Wahine have notable wins against San Diego State and UCSB. Hawaii has split with UC San Diego and San Jose State, and dropped matches to LMU, USC, and Stanford.

Last week, Hawaii welcomed Long Beach State to open conference play and defeated the 49ers, 9-8, in overtime. The Rainbow Wahine overcame a one-goal deficit entering the fourth period and scored with 23 seconds to go to send the match to overtime before Caity Lopes da Silva notched the game-winner with 26 seconds left in the second overtime period.

Lopes da Silva is one of five Wahine with 20 or more  goals led by Paula Chillida Esforzado and Danielle Lewis who have each eclipsed 30.

The senior Lewis  also sports a .529 shooting percentage and 27 steals to lead the team while Chillida Esforzado's 38 goals pace UH's scoring.

Amy Carlson patrols the net with 141 saves in 17 matches and allowed just under eight goals per match.

Hawaii hosts UCI Friday at 6:00 p.m., 9:00 p.m. Pacific time. UCLA comes in on Saturday to finish the Rainbow Wahine's homestand.

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