Grueling 2015 Season Sharpens Young Women's Soccer Squad
November 12, 2015 | Women's Soccer
2015 UC Irvine Anteaters
Overall: 7-11-1
Schedule Strength: 95th
RPI: 189
Big West: 3-5-0
Points: 9
Standing: 7th
Home record: 3-4
Non-conference: 1-2
Big West: 2-2
Away record: 2-6
Non-conference: 1-3
Neutral: 2-1-1
Avg. home attendance: 524
Avg. road attendance: 1,539
VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY
The Anteaters completed the 2015 season with a record of 7-11-1 in very likely the toughest in the program's 32 seasons.
The season began with a bang falling by a lone goal to Auburn, a program ranked 19th entering the NCAA Tournament with an RPI of 14. Of its abbreviated home non-conference schedule was the highest-ranked opponent on the 'Eaters schedule in No. 12 Santa Clara.
Most of the non-conference schedule came away from Anteater Stadium with eight matches, all successively, that spanned 4,818 miles. The season in its entirety saw 10,148 total miles of travel. The Anteaters were not let down upon arrival either with an average of 1,213 fans to watch each match adding daunting atmospheres on top of the already difficult schedule.
Crowds as big as 4,790 at No. 4 Texas A&M, 3,090 at Portland, and even 2,069 at Cal Poly setting a program record, and 1,169 for a win at Hawai'i, another trip of 2,580 miles.
Throughout its entire schedule, UCI averaged 1,144 fans at each match away from home. Over the last four seasons, the 'Eaters have averaged 935 fans per road match spanning 37 matches since 2012.
Like the crowds, the competition did not dip once it hit conference play. The Big West Conference itself was rated as the eighth-best conference in the nation, above conferences like the Big East, Ivy League, Mountain West, and WCC.
It was one of 12 conferences to score at least 50 non-conference wins, and posted the fifth-least number of losses at 34. It found success against the Big Sky (11-1) and Mountain West (8-3-2) while providing spotless marks against the Summit League (5-0) and WAC (4-0). It even took five wins from the WCC and two from the Pac 12.
Coach Juniper's squad welcomed in UC Riverside and Long Beach State, both top-65 in RPI, and treated them to shutout victories. They even took top-25 RPI Cal State Fullerton to the wire in a one-goal defeat along with the fourth of the Big West Tournament squads falling at UCSB in dramatic fashion. Seven of the nine conference schools landed in the top-100 RPI by season's end leaving nothing to chance in Big West play.
Six Anteater opponents will be present in the NCAA Tournament. Many of them clash with each other in the first round as Washington and Texas A&M are matched up as well as Long Beach State and Santa Clara. CSUF (at USC) and Auburn (vs. SE Louisiana) also made the field.
ANTEATER ASSESSMENT
The youth movement was very prevalent on the pitch for the 'Eaters in 2015 driving the squad forward. The Anteaters had nine players put in over 1,000 minutes with seven of them having less than two years in the program. One of those was freshman Brittany Nguyen who earned Big West All-Freshman Team honors.
Five second-year players got into every match on the year, 10 played in 16+ matches, and 12 played in at least 10 matches.
The top three shooters and scorers for the squad will all return to the team in 2016. Kiana Palacios continued to contribute her goal-scoring skills putting home the final four goals of the season for the squad to give her five on the season to lead the team and nine on her career.
Next year's senior class will have a presence throughout every third with forwards Tatyana Garrett and Nayeli Requejo, midfielder Sammie James, and defensive stalwart Kelsey Texeira.
UC Irvine's exiting senior class had plenty to hang their hat on posting 34 wins while taking down schools like Auburn, Texas A&M, Oregon, Oregon State, BYU, and Oklahoma.
Senior keeper Corey Tobin will leave a massive void to fill after playing all 1,743 minutes this season, 94th-most in the nation. She leaves behind a career which included 20 wins and 10 shutouts over 45 matches. Her 77 saves this season ranked second in the conference and 125th in the nation as she finished with 124 saves and fell five shy of top-10 single season spot this year.
The defensive duo of Clarissa Robles and Haley O'Brien each started over 68 matches. Robles added 12 career assists, one shy of cracking the program's all-time top 10. In addition, the immediate impact felt of junior college transfers Claudia Lopez, Jenny Konishi, and Shauna Salcido kept the program on track through Head Coach Scott Juniper's ninth season.
"Overall, the season was characterized by an incredibly challenging schedule, a very young squad, and adversity through a number of key injuries at critical times. We graduate a group of fantastic seniors who we will miss in so many ways. We got stronger through it all, and we are eager to keep the growth of the team moving forward."
Juniper and the Anteaters continue to stay consistent winning at least seven matches in all nine seasons under his direction. Overall, he stands with 98 wins with the Anteaters and an overall record within the Big West of 42-22-9. The program as a whole is up to 288 wins, an average of nine wins per season.
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