UC Irvine Turns It Up for Santa Clara, Portland
September 20, 2016 | Women's Soccer
UPCOMING OPPONENTS
UC Irvine Anteaters at Santa Clara Broncos
Thursday, September 22, 2016 - 7:30 PM
Stevens Stadium - Santa Clara, Calif.
Video | Live Stats
Portland Pilots at UC Irvine Anteaters
Sunday, September 25, 2016 - 2:00 PM
Anteater Stadium - Irvine, Calif.
Live Stats | Tickets | Program
Broadcast Information
Online
UCI's Thursday match at Santa Clara will be live streamed online via TheW.tv. The link as well as any and all pertinent information on the team can be found at ucirvinesports.com
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FIRST KICKS
+ UC Irvine's 22 goals are 19th-most in the nation, it also eclipses its 2015 total of 21 goals
+ UCI is the 44th-best offense in the nation scoring 2.20 goals per match
+ The 'Eaters are fifth in the nation with 28 assists and rank seventh averaging 2.8 per match
+ Overall, the 'Eaters have produced 72 points, 12th most in the nation
+ UCI leads the Big West in all of these categories
+ The defense holds a 0.68 goals-against-average, 39th in the nation
+ Maddie Newsom has saved 22 shots; overall, the defense has allowed just 2.75 shots on goal per match ranking 318th out of 329 schools
+ Kiana Palacios led the nation with 23 points and was tied atop with nine goals following her third 2-goal performance on Thursday at Idaho State. Currently, Palacios lands second in the nation in both categories, and fourth with her four game-winning goals
+ Palacios' five assists also rank her 19th in the country along with Grayson Galbraith. Close behind is Alex Karlowitsch wither her four assists
+ The team's assist leader is Noel Baham with six, good for sixth in the county. Her 12 points ranks 86th overall and fourth in the Big West
+ Also fourth in the Big West is Lili Andino and her four goals
+ Newsom in net ranks high in minutes played (14th), shutouts (22nd), and GAA (46th)
+ Both Anteater losses have come on the road by scores of 1-0. The goal allowed to Utah was the first on a Sunday having outscoring opponents 10-0 prior to it
+ The Anteaters' eight wins through 10 matches has happened just one other time in program history, 1998. That squad was 8-2-2 through 12 matches
+ UCI's best start came in 1995 when it was 12-0-2 before being handed its first loss
UCI rose to Another four-match win streak before dropping its second match of the season on Sunday. The 'Eaters put up a 3-0 win at Idaho State headlined by two goals in the first 11 minutes from Kiana Palacios. Lili Andino added a third goal in the 72nd minute, and Maddie Newsom was stellar in net posting a career high six saves for the team's fifth shutout of 2016.
The Anteaters fought with Utah on Sunday entering halftime scoreless with a 6-4 shot advantage. The Utes jumped on the board in the 51st minute, and Carly Nelson held the 'Eaters back stopped five shots to deal the 'Eaters their second 1-0 defeat of the year.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
UCI goes into the final week of non-conference play against a pair of storied WCC programs starting with a trip to Santa Clara. The Broncos are 2-4-3 so far, but have had a tough course dropping early matches to Washington and Washington State and recent losses to No. 9 Minnesota and No. 1 Stanford. SCU is 0-4-3 through its last seven matches after scoring opening-weekend wins over ranked USC and Cal.
Senior Jordan Jesolva leads the way with four goals and two assists. Fellow senior Jenna Roering is the only other Bronco with more than three points (2 G, 1 A). The keepers have begun to split time with sophomore Melissa Lowder having started seven of the nine matches this year. Overall, the goalkeeper duo has 38 saves and a 1.11 GAA.
Portland just defeated Oregon to go to 5-2-2 that includes a draw with Cal Poly, loss to Cal, and win over Washington. Junior Hannah Griffiths Boston has seven of the team's 20 goals including two game-winners. Senior Allison Wetherington has also put up 10 points while senior Hanna De Haan's 1.01 GAA and 33 saves over seven matches leads the defense.
On The Run
The 'Eaters' magnificent start to the season saw them do something they've never done before in program history. Thursday's 3-0 victory over Idaho State marked the fourth consecutive match that UCI scored three or more goals. UC Irvine had only scored 3+ goals in three straight matches once coming in 2009.
Number Crunching
The Anteaters jumped into the regional rankings last week at No. 10 in the West Region, and they climbed to No. 9 this week. Four other Big West schools join them on the list as well as this Sunday's opponent, Portland, at No. 4. The other Anteater opponent showing up on regional rankings is Oregon at No. 8 in the Pacific region.
Placing Palacios
Junior midfielder Kiana Palacios entered some uncharted territory last week following her two-goal performance in UCI's 3-0 win at Idaho State. Palacios was briefly the nation's scoring leader with 23 points and tied for the national lead with nine goals. Since then, BYU's Ashley Hatch overtook the lead with her 10th goal giving her 24 points. Palacios still stands second in the nation in each category, and her four game-winning goals is fourth in the nation. In the program records, Palacios is approaching the top 10 in many categories needing four goals, four assists, and seven points to reach it. Her seven career game-winning goals is already eighth best at UCI, three more will make her the fourth Anteater with 10 or more career game-winners. She needs three points and two goals to enter the single-season Anteater records.
Above and Baham
Noel Baham scored twice and assisted on three others for a seven point-weekend in the previous weekend at the Fullerton Tournament helping UCI drop Oregon, 3-2, and UAB, 4-0. She was rewarded with her first career Big West Offensive Player of the Week award. It's the first for the team this season, and first since 2014. Baham is the first offensive awardwinner for the 'Eaters since Laura McGrail in late 2013.
THROW-INS
+ The 'Eaters play consecutive matches against WCC foes this week. The lone WCC opponent to this point has been Saint Mary's which UCI defeated in the opening weekend, 2-0
+ Overall, the program is 43-64-10 in the 117 matchups with schools from that conference, and UCI has played each program at least once since 2010, and under coach Juniper, UCI is 13-13-3
+ In 55 road meetings, UCI has drawn a result 24 times with 18 wins and six draws. They also have 24 home wins against the WCC
+ UCI and Santa Clara drew once, 1-1, in 2011 as part of the invitational at Stanford. UC Irvine was ranked 11th at the time of the match while Santa Clara was No. 17
+ UCI drew its lone win over Portland in 2011, 3-1, in front of a record women's crowd in Anteater Stadium of 1,611 fans
+ Head Coach Scott Juniper won his 100th career match earlier in the season. Should the squad reach the 10-win mark in this season, it will mark 300 wins for the program in its 33-year history
+ The 'Eaters are rated 100th in the first release of the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) from the NCAA this week
+ UCI has played two schools rated higher than them earning a win against Oregon (16) and losing to Utah (23)
+ This week's opponents rate 39th (Santa Clara) and 91st (Portland)
+ The Anteaters are rated 43rd in the Hero Sports Bennett Rank Power Score which shows how far apart teams are using a relative scale. The 'Eaters have wins over Oregon (29) and SJSU (86) as well as a loss to Utah (16) among teams scored better than 100
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