UPCOMING MATCHES
No. 5 UC Irvine Anteaters at No. 15 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos
Sat. March 28, 2015 / 12:00 PM
Santa Barbara, Calif.
No. 5 UC Irvine Anteaters at No. 7 CSUN Matadors
Sun. March 29, 2015 / 12:00 PM
Northridge, Calif.
OPENING SPRINTS
The 'Eaters return after a two week layoff and dive right into Big West play with a trip to UC Santa Barbara and CSUN. The 'Eaters still have one non-conference match remaining in a Thursday night match at UC San Diego next week.
UCI's scoring leader is McKenna Mitchell with 32 goals. She's had the match or a tie of it on 11 occasions and buried three or more goals six times. She's scored in 16 of 19 matches, one better than Danielle Warde with goals in 15 matches.
Warde is second on the team with 23 goals. Cambria Shockley's 19 is third-best on a team that averages 8.3 goals per match.
BIG WEST RECAP
The Big West is still up for grabs with all five contenders swirling in the standings this season. Through three matches, no home team has won a conference match as CSUN won at Hawai'i, and Hawai'i and UC Santa Barbara each won at UC Davis.
Here is each team's resume to this point:
Hawai'i - ranked sixth with a record of 11-6 overall, 1-2 at home
Notable wins: Arizona State (by 1), Princeton (by 1)
Notable losses: Cal (by 3), UCLA (by 6), at UCI (by 1), USC (by 11)
CSUN - ranked seventh with a record of 12-8 overall, 2-0 at home
Notable wins: SJSU (by 1 in OT), at Hawai'i (by 1), UC Davis (by 2)
Notable losses: LMU (by 1), Arizona State (by 2 & 3), SJSU (by 2)
UC Davis - ranked 11th with a record of 14-10 overall, 8-2 at home
Notable wins: Indiana (by 4), LMU (by 5), SDSU (by 2), UCSD (by 3)
Notable losses: UCI (by 7), Michigan (by 1 in OT), Hawai'i (by 1)
LBSU - ranked 12th with a record of 15-9 overall, 3-1 at home
Notable wins: ASU (by 2), Indiana (by 1 in OT), UCSD (by 1 & 2)
Notable losses: UCSD (by 2), Wagner (by 2), Hartwick (by 1)
UCSB - ranked 15th with a record of 12-12 overall, 3-5 at home
Notable wins: UCSD (by 1 & 1), at UCD (by 2), Santa Clara (by 5 & 1)
Notable losses: Michigan (twice), Pacific (twice), Bakersfield (by 2)
COUNTER ATTACK
The program recorded win No. 250 on Sunday, Feb. 1 with the win over UC Davis. The program is 261-216 in 477 career matches.
Head Coach Dan Klatt has been around for 212 of those wins. He earned his 200th win to open the season by defeating No. 7 San Jose State, 9-6.
The program as a whole began the season with 3,720 goals scored which has since risen to 3,878. The 'Eaters stood 280 goals away from the 4,000-goal mark entering the season, a mark the program has reached five times and three times in the last four years.
Scoring leader McKenna Mitchell tops the team with 32 goals this year. She's up to 120 in her career, tied for 11th all-time with Jessica Lewis. Danielle Warde continues to climb the records with 180 all-time, fifth-most and 12 behind next on the list, Gianna Rossi.
The goal-scoring records were not threatened in the 3-2 win over Hawai'i in the fifth place match of the UC Irvine Invitational. The five total goals marked the lowest total in a match in Anteater program history. The three goals were lowest in a UCI win as well. That win did mark the highest-ever finish in the tournament at fifth.
Jillian Yocum is up to 794 career saves, 138 away from all-time leader Lauren Machanis. She has four double-digit save matches in 2015. Her single-season high is 14 she set as a sophomore. All-time, the senior has 35 double-digit save performances in all. Yocum's save totals were not readily available at the Fluid Four.
SPLASHING ABOUT
UC Irvine embarks on a travel-filled 2015 schedule beginning, and possibly ending, in Palo Alto, Calif. This year marks the first season to open at the Stanford Invitational. Other destinations will include UC San Diego for the Triton Invite, Bloomington, Indiana for the Fluid Four, and Hawai'i for the Big West Tournament.
UC Irvine has a total of seven home matches of its 28 scheduled this season. The 'Eaters had four in the UC Irvine Invitational, and an 11-7 loss to USC. Contests with Hawai'i and UC Davis remain in April.
Based on the preseason poll, 18 of the 20 ranked squads show up on the schedule missing just Princeton and Harvard.
The Anteaters has faced just one unranked school this season in Hartwick. Michigan and Santa Clara are the only opponents that were receiving votes in the weekly poll during the week of the matchup.
CONFERENCE CALL
UCSB kicks off Big West play for UCI and is up first having not played since Mar. 8. The Gauchos are 12-12 with five home losses. UC Irvine has a 21-11 edge in the series having won eight straight.
UCSB's prime scorers are freshman Camila Schafer (33), junior Samantha Murphy (27), and sophomore Taylor Shore (24). Shore also leads the squad with 12 assists and 22 steals while the team as a whole has just 14 field blocks.
Junior goalie Mackenzie Brokaw has pulled down 109 saves on the year. UCSB thrives in the third period outscoring opponents 69-38.
CSUN comes in a 12-8 winning both home matches its hosted. The Anteaters have won 10 straight over CSUN including three last year.
Senior Kelcie Ferreira leads the squad with 21 assists and 32 steals to go with 20 goals. Senior Marisa Young's 32 goals lead the team followed by 29 from senior Kelcy Barott. Senior Kiernan Davis has played 481 of the minutes in net stopping 129 shots with a 7.50 goals-against-average.
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