UPCOMING OPPONENTS

Game Notes 

UC Irvine Anteaters at Santa Clara Broncos

Saturday, September 10, 2016 - 7:30 PM
Buck Shaw Field - Santa Clara, Calif.
Video | Live Stats

Broadcast Information

Video

Saturday's match will be streamed live on TheW.tv Fans can find the link on ucirvinesports.com and watch along on their computer or mobile device.

Live Stats

Live stats are available for every Anteater soccer game through ucirvinesports.com and the UCI Sports Front Row app. 

Social Media

Keep up with all things Anteater Soccer by following along on social media. Be sure to 'follow' the soccer-specific accounts on Twitter and Facebook for game previews, in-game updates, recaps, and other original content.

HOME LAND

The Anteaters split between Grand Canyon and Florida Gulf Coast over the weekend as they opened their home ledger.

UC Irvine took the early edge in the home opener in the 24th minute as Mario Ortiz found Luis Leon who cut back and fed a ball across the goal mouth that Giovanni Godoy knocked in for the only goal in a 1-0 victory.

Sunday's match was the first of a doubleheader with the women as Florida Gulf Coast finished up their West Coast swing. The Eagles wasted no time scoring on the match's first shot in the second minute. The 'Eaters finally responded in the 78th minute as Luis Leon put home a header from an endline feed by Mario Ortiz. FGCU cut the party short with a goal just a minute later to take the lead back, 2-1.

UCI had what looked like penalty kick opportunities skate away from them twice in the final minutes with a tackle and a hand ball each turned away, and the match would finish in favor of Florida Gulf Coast, 2-1.

Aside from the result, some positives the 'Eaters took away were the return of senior Michael Sperber to the lineup having served his suspension from the 2015 season finale.

There were home debuts for a majority of the newest 'Eaters including the first career start for freshman Jose Ortiz who led all players with five shots and three on target in the FGCU match.

The win marks the 12th consecutive season the Anteaters have won its opener at home, and they have yet to allow a goal in the home opener since 2006.

SOCCER LANDSCAPE

Along with how the 'Eaters are doing on the field, there is a ripple effect felt from the rest of the programs on their schedule.

UCI's opening weekend has become a lot more telling as teams enter the third week of play, and the rankings are topped by a new No. 1-overall in Notre Dame now at 4-0. Closely behind them at 3-0-1 and No. 4 in the nation are Indiana, and now both of those road results have a little different look.

Grand Canyon and Florida Gulf Coast each have just one win through the first two weekends, but an FGCU team knocking on the door of the rankings, and an upstart GCU squad with a win over Central Florida could have an impact.

The 'Eaters have a lot of crossover coming up between Santa Clara, Loyola Marymount, and Portland all having heavy Big West feels to their schedules.

New Mexico could be one of the most important matches on the entire non-conference schedule. Not only are the Lobos a team that will likely be fighting for a tournament spot, but it has six common opponents on their schedule.

UNM, too, plays Grand Canyon and LMU, and just took wins from Big West rivals, CSUN and Cal Poly. New Mexico was also a part of the opening-weekend tournament along with Notre Dame and Indiana, and UCI will have the home field advantage when the programs finally face each other.

ANT-ALYTICS

The 'Eaters continue to see growth as a unit which is centered around its senior presence on the backline and at keeper.

Elliot Farmer has 18 saves through the early going good for second in the conference and 19th in the nation. He's played all 360 minutes as have center backs Matthew Tilley and Jorge Lara.

Despite only three assists early on, that total is good for third in the conference. Mario Ortiz is tied atop the conference with his pair of helpers which also lands him 31st in the nation.

The squad got things done on Friday with only five shots fired to GCU's 14. The five shots were also all on goal. Over the weekend, 11 of the team's 17 shots were on target. Half of the squad's 32 total shots (16) have come on frame. Two newcomers in Jose Ortiz and Christian Carrillo each shoot better than 50% on frame at 6-for-10 and 4-for-6, respectively.

Giovanni Godoy's goal marked his first as an Anteater and first game-winner as well. The points were his first on the collegiate level since his time with Bakersfield in 2013.

The squad went through a couple hard-nosed bouts over the weekend with 80 fouls in all being called including 45 in the Grand Canyon contest alone with 26 committed by the 'Eaters.

UCI's 81 fouls in total are 25 more than any other Big West squad thus far. Elsewhere, the team has earned just 10 corner kicks averaging 2.5 per match, lowest in the conference.

After not being called for an offside in its first three matches combined, the 'Eaters were drawn offside six times Sunday vs. FGCU, a mark that the team reached twice in 2015; 6 vs. San Diego State and 8 in a road match at Nebraska-Omaha.

BOOKING BRONCOS

UC Irvine slows things down with just one match this week, but it goes back on the road and faces a solid competitor in Santa Clara who reached the NCAA Tournament a year ago. Last year, the Broncos were 11-8-1 rolling through Cal State Fullerton in the NCAA First Round before getting chopped up by Stanford. SCU is 2-2 so far in 2016 splitting each weekend, first at Wisconsin and Northwestern, and then travelling to Las Vegas and losing to UC Riverside before winning Sunday against Cal State Fullerton.

Of the four matches, Santa Clara has been shut out twice and earned on shutout. All four were decided by a single goal, something they did 13 times in 2015. This is only the fourth match between the program, but all of those were one-goal matches as well. The 'Eaters dropped the first meeting in 1987, and came back to even the series in overtime in 2009. Most recently, SCU took a 2-1 win away from Anteater Stadium in 2013.

Three different Broncos have scored their three goals, and they also head the offensive attack in senior Edson Cardona, junior Satoshi Chaffin, and last year's 10-goal-scorer, junior Carlos Delgadillo. The number has stayed pretty even between SCU and its opponents in each match. Sophomore keeper Dakota Havlick has just eight saves to his name replacing Kendall Mcintosh who played every minute last year.