Black and Blue Rivalry Series Highlights Big West Openers
September 27, 2016 | Women's Soccer
UPCOMING OPPONENTS
UC Irvine Anteaters at Long Beach State 49ers
Friday, September 30, 2016 - 7:00 PM
George Allen Field - Long Beach, Calif.
Audio | Live Stats
UC Irvine Anteaters at UC Riverside Highlanders
Sunday, October 2, 2016 - 6:00 PM
UCR Soccer Field - Riverside, Calif.
Live Stats
Broadcast Information
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Online
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+ UC Irvine's 22 goals are 42nd-most in the nation, it also eclipses its 2015 total of 21 goals
+ The 'Eaters are ninth in the nation with 28 assists and rank 18th averaging 2.3 per match
+ Overall, the 'Eaters have produced 72 points, 23rd most in the nation
+ The defense holds a 0.72 goals-against-average, 41st in the nation
+ 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 is third in the nation with 23 points and fourth in the nation with nine goals and four game-winning goals
+ Per match, she averages 0.75 goals (28th nationally) and 1.92 points (19th nationally)
+ The Anteaters have four players within the top 75 nationally in assists: Noel Baham is 12th with six assists, Grayson Galbraith and Kiana Palacios each have five ranking 29th, and Alex Karlowitsch has four, 75th-best
+ Palacios' is among the nation's leaders in shots and shots on goal per match, she averages four shots a match, 34th-best, and two shots on goal per match, 36th-best
+ Maddie Newsom continues to climb the national charts as a keeper with 1,111 minutes played, fourth-most, four shutouts ranking 36th nationally, and the 46th-best goals-against-average at 0.73
+ As a team, UCI leads the Big West in points, assists, points per match, assists per match, and fouls per match along with tied for first with UCSB with 22 goals
+ Individually, 'Eaters lead the conference in seven categories with Kiana Palacios (goals, game-winning goals, points, points per match, shots per match), Maddie Newsom (minutes played), and Noel Baham (assists) heading those categories
+ UCI's eight non-conference wins match the most under Juniper with the 2009 and 2010 squads
The Anteater offense was slowed a bit in its final week of non-conference play with a pair of high-caliber WCC opponents in their path. The last of five straight matches away from home sent UCI to Santa Clara Thursday night. A very defensive match saw a 68th minute goal from the Broncos be the different. Alex Karlowitsch blasted a shot in the final minute that needed saving from going in an equalizing, but the 1-0 final would stand.
UCI and Portland played a wildly different match on Sunday that ended with the same 1-0 score. The Pilots knocked home a 97th minute OT goal as they weathered a 21-shot storm from the 'Eaters and eight on target as UCI dropped its third straight match.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Big West Conference play begins stepping right into the fire with the Black and Blue Rivalry Series Friday night at Long Beach State. LBSU sprinted out of the gate with wins over ranked USC and SDSU, and would falter due to some injuries against highly-acclaimed Penn State, UCLA, and BYU, and now sit at 4-5-1. The 49ers have enjoyed their home confines for eight of the 10 matches. LBSU got its Big West Keeper of the Year Ashton McKeown back and her 0.97 GAA for the last couple matches. Sophomore Ashley Gonzales continues to score with five goals to lead the team. Five other 49ers have multiple goals thus far, and the defense continues to stand tall led by senior Mimi Akaogi and freshman Chloe Froment.
The second half of opening weekend includes a trip to 3-5-3 UC Riverside Sunday evening where the Highlanders have a win at Houston, and battled tough with SJSU, Michigan, and No. 8 Texas A&M. Tayler Dragoo has sparked the offense with four goals and 25 shots. The other nine goals belong to nine different Highlanders. Alanna Guzman has stopped 58 shots in net to lead the Big West and rank 30th nationally as part of the team ranked 15th in the nation with 11 yellow cards.
Regional Dialect
UCI remains within the regional rankings at No. 10 with four other Big West schools ahead of them. UC Santa Barbara, No. 3 regionally, is also the only Anteater opponent receiving votes in the NSCAA poll. The 'Eaters' RPI dropped slightly to 123rd in the NCAA polls. Three Anteater opponents fall within the top 30 of RPI at the moment in Utah (22), Oregon (24), and Santa Clara (29). The Hero Sports Power Index rates the Anteaters at No. 50, and they have a 2-3 record against programs scoring in the top 60.
Milestone Momentum
The 'Eaters' eight wins through non-conference play match the most under coach Juniper. Two more wins on the season would give UC Irvine its first double-digit win total since 2013 and the program overall would reach the 300-win plateau. Coach Juniper won his 100th career match earlier in the season, he's raised his career record to 106-69-19
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, the Anteaters have been shutout from the back of the net, however, Palacios still stands third in the nation in goals, and her four game-winning goals and 23 points are 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. 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 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
+ UCI opens up Big West on the road for the fourth time in the last five years, it is 1-2-1 in those road matches
+ Under coach Juniper, the Anteaters are 4-4-1 in Big West openers, 5-4 in home openers, and 3-4-2 in road openers
+ UCI opened 2015 at home defeating UCR, 1-0
+ UC Irvine has not won a Big West road opener since 2012
+ The last three meetings between UCI and LBSU have seen each win once along with one draw that came at Long Beach
+ UCI is unbeaten in its last four matches at Long Beach (2-0-2)
+ In conference matches, UCI is 6-1-2 against LBSU under coach Juniper outscoring the 49ers 12-3 and only being shutout once
+ UCI has won eight of the nine conference matches against UC Riverside since Juniper came aboard, its one loss was in its last trip to Riverside, 1-0
+ Seven of the last 10 matchups have been decided by one goal
+ The 'Eaters have allowed 36 shots on goal, the lowest amount in the conference, compared to its opponents LBSU (49) and UCR (80)
+ LBSU and UCR are also the top two Big West schools in terms of offside calls
+ UCI and LBSU commit the least amount of fouls in the conference and 8.5 and 8.9, respectively
+ UCI and UCR have played the most minutes in the conference at 1,119 and 1,072, respectively, LBSU is among the least (920)
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