Anteater Stadium

10 Things To Look For This Weekend In Anteater Athletics

| By: Stacey Shackleford
The 2017-18 season is in full swing as of this weekend. UCI teams will compete in 11 events over the next three days. Men's and women's soccer, women's volleyball, men's water polo and men's and women's cross country will all be in action. Here's a few things to keep your eye on.
 
1. TWICE AS NICE
Friday's soccer double-header marks the first of four twin billings this season. The women's team (1-1-1) will take on Penn Friday at 4:00 p.m. followed by the men's team (1-1) entertaining Penn State at 7:00 p.m. at Anteater Stadium.
 
The teams will double-dip again on Sunday with the women battling Toledo at 4:00 p.m. and the men facing UNC Asheville at 7:00 p.m.
 
2. PATROLLING THE SIDELINES
Friday will be the home debut of men's soccer head coach Yossi Raz. Raz picked up his first Division I win as the Anteaters toppled Northern Kentucky, 5-2 last Sunday.

On the women's side, Scott Juniper is looking to tie or become the winningest head coach in women's program history. He currently sits at 112 career wins and is looking to leapfrog Marine Cano's career mark of 113 wins (1994-2005).

3. MORE FROM THE SIDELINES
Setter Ali Koumelis was named to the Cal Molten Classic All-Tournament Team last weekend. She has some pretty good mentors as all three of the women's volleyball coaches were setters in college. Third year head coach Ashlie Hain led the Anteaters to the NCAA Tournament in 2003 and 2004, while assistant coaches Sabrina Hernandez (Long Beach State) and Megan Moenoa (UCLA) were members of national championship teams during their playing careers.
 
4. MALIBU DREAMS
For the second consecutive year, the men's and women's cross country teams will open the season at the Pepperdine Invitational in Malibu. In 2016, the UCI men won the event, going 2-0 in dual-meet scoring with Izzak Mireles and Hector Garcia finishing fifth and sixth, respectively. The Anteater women went 3-1 against the competition, and had top-10 showings from Anastasia Karnaze and Megan Mirkhanian.
 
5. TOURNEY TIME
The women's volleyball team will begin the season competing in four straight tournaments, including the Marcia E. Coleman Classic at Saint Louis University this weekend. UCI started the year capturing the Cal Molten Classic with wins over Cal, Seattle U and Loyola-Chicago. It is the second straight season the Anteaters have beaten a Pac-12 team in the opening weekend.
 
6. MAKING WAVES
The men's water polo team begins action at the Triton Invitational in La Jolla Saturday and Sunday. The 13th-ranked Anteaters will open with Fresno Pacific at 9:40 a.m. Saturday.

UCI returns five All-Americans, including Louvre Milos who has totaled 152 goals in his last two years at UCI.
 
7. ON THE PITCH
If you head to Anteater Stadium this season something will be different – the home bench will be located nearest to the scoreboard. After sitting to the right of the centerline for years, both teams can be found on the left.
 
8. TEAM EFFORT
The men's soccer team recorded six goals last week with five different players scoring. The rest of the Big West only scored seven goals total over 12 games last week.

The women's volleyball team is ranked 18th in the country in aces per set with a 2.00 average. Six different players recorded an ace over the first 10 sets of the season.
 
9. BROTHER VS. BROTHER
All-Americans Kyle and Jack Trush will be in the pool together again this season. Kyle, a senior who redshirted last season, is fresh off competing with Team USA at the World University Games. He was the second leading scorer in 2015, while Jack led the Anteaters in 2016 with 47 goals.

10. KEY CONTRIBUTOR
Women's soccer player Kiana Palacios, who was the Anteaters leading goalscorer  a year ago, missed the final six games of the 2016 season while she was playing with Mexico's under-20 team in the U20 Women's World Cup.  She has picked up where she left off scoring two goals against Portland, giving her 20 career goals, which makes her the 12th Anteater to reach the 20-goal mark. Her next point will be her 50th all-time and make her the 12th Anteater to reach the 50-point plateau.

 
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