UC Irvine Ventures to Florida for Panthers, Owls
September 15, 2015 | Women's Soccer
UPCOMING MATCHES
UC Irvine Anteaters at Florida International Panthers
Friday, September 18, 2015
4:00 PM - Miami, Fla.
Live Stats Live Stream
UC Irvine Anteaters vs. Florida Atlantic Owls
Sunday, September 20, 2015
10:00 AM - Boca Raton, Fla.
Live Stats Live Stream
PURPLE RAIN
UC Irvine had a tall order travelling to hostile territory once again to face two perennial women's soccer powers in the Nike Portland Invitational.
The Anteaters stepped into Merlo Field Friday night in front of 3,090 fans to face Portland and went down two goals early. Alex Karlowitsch slipped home a goal right before the halftime whistle to add some intrigue, and the 'Eaters arose to the challenge to start the second half, but could not put home the equalizer. The Pilots eventually found the net once more to finish 3-1.
"It was a tough weekend against two good teams," Head Coach Scott Juniper added. "It was another big atmosphere on Friday and Portland played inspired in the first half in front of the 3,000+ home fans. We were much improved in the second half, but not enough to swing the momentum our way."
Sunday brought the Washington Huskies who also scored in the first five minutes to set the Anteaters back again. The match skated along pretty evenly after that point until UW punched home a second in the 68th minute to complete the 2-0 Husky victory.
"Washington were very well-organized, and we gave up an early goal again. The remainder of the game was very evenly-balanced, but the 1-0 scoreline meant we had to take a few more risks and we were caught on a breakaway."
On the weekend, Corey Tobin matched her career high with seven saves against Portland with a team save added for good measure. Her shutout streak was ended at 315 minutes.
Senior defender Clarissa Robles scored an assist in her second consecutive match on the Portland goal. Alex Karlowitsch and Kiana Palacios have each put up a shot in each of the last five matches.
MAKING TRACKS
The Anteaters step into rarified air this weekend as they travel to Florida marking their seventh and eighth straight matches away from home.
"This was our sixth game on the road and each game has given us new challenges," coach Juniper pointed out following the Oregon road trip.
Under Juniper, UC Irvine has been away for at least three matches at a time in every season and four straight five times including each of the last four years.
This eight-match stretch will become the longest string of non-conference road matches under Juniper. The 2012 'Eaters played seven in a row which actually extended to nine straight once conference play commenced.
It's the second such time the team has played eight non-conference matches away from home. Juniper's first year saw the squad go on two separate four-game road trips. Those Anteaters went 5-3. The current team is 2-3-1 away from home.
TECHNICAL SQUAD
Both matches this weekend will be streamed with links featured on ucirvinesports.com and frequent social media updates.
Friday's match begins at 4:00 p.m. in Miami followed by a 10:00 a.m. start time in Boca Raton on Sunday.
Adding to the televised list will be UC Irvine's Sun. Oct. 18th match at home against Long Beach State. The match will be broadcast on ESPN3 as one of four live streamed Big West matches this season.
FRESH SQUEEZED SOCCER
The Anteater program will make its farthest trip east with a pair of matches in Florida this weekend. The 'Eaters visited Alabama in 2014 to face Auburn and Indiana. The trip is only the second-longest in program history falling 200 miles short of its biennial trip to Hawai'i. FIU and FAU join Central Florida as the only Florida programs UCI has dueled with.
Florida International is coming off an 8-8-2 season in 2014 that included a loss to LBSU. The 2015 Panthers are 3-4 facing just Florida (1-3) and Ohio (2-1) schools to this point.
Top goalscorers Chelsea Levia (8 G, 3 A) and Johanna Volz (3 G) are no more, but fifth-year Scarlet Montoya's two goals and five assists do remain along with minutes leader fifth-year Marie Egan. There have been 16 different Panthers to have played in six or seven of the matches this year already. The scoring has come from senior Madlen Weinhardt and junior Ellen Crist with two each while junior Alyssa Robinson does lead the team in shots with one goal to her name.
The goalkeeping quandary has been an interesting one. Serbian sophomore Nevena Stojakovic jumped into net last season and played every minute stopping 52 shots and putting up a 1.08 goals-against-average. It's been a different story in 2015 where six of the seven matches have seen two keepers play. Junior Sophia Trujillo has entered the mix and stopped 20 shots while allowing seven goals in just over half the team's minutes. Stojakovic has played 43% of the minutes allowing two goals and stopping four shots.
Florida Atlantic is coming off a 7-9-4 season in 2014 which included a win over Cal Poly. The 2015 Owls are sitting at 6-2 with losses at Texas A&M and Brown blemishing their wins with four of them coming on the road.
Only senior Claire Emslie remains from the scoring trio of Hildur Hauksdottir (4 G) and Olivia Mbala (3 G). A few big shooters in sophomore Asta Arnadottir, junior Geovana Alves, and senior Taylor Townsend remain and have all scored multiple goals on the season.
Junior keeper Sydney Drinkwater has stuffed the opposition saving 37 shots and allowing just five goals in eight matches. Her sophomore campaign saw a goals-against-average under 1.00 as well with 89 saves on top of it.
Over the last three seasons, FIU has defeated FAU in 2012 and 2013 before the programs played to a scoreless tie in 2014. Each were picked to finish near the middle of the conference with FIU sixth and FAU seventh.
Of the 14 Conference USA programs, FIU and FAU are just the third and fourth to square off with the 'Eaters. The last was UT-San Antonio that UCI held down, 2-1, in College Station back in 2011. The 'Eaters and North Texas have battled four times when the Mean Green were Big West members. The last match was a home draw in 1999.
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