The 'Eaters picked up a pair of points on draws at UC Riverside and UC Davis keeping a slim one-point lead atop the Big West, and now programs on the rise show up with CSUN coming Thursday for the final regular season home match in Anteater Stadium where UCI will celebrate its 10 seniors followed by a rivalry meeting Sunday night at Long Beach State

     

Storylines
• UC Irvine's final regular season home match will be played Thursday in Anteater Stadium with the 'Eaters hosting CSUN at 7:00 p.m.. UCI will celebrate its 10 seniors following the match - Madi Puliafico, Elizabeth Hutchison, Kelsee Pottorff, Reema Bzeih, Lili Andino, Isabella Gutierrez, Shelby Petty, Shelby Lee, Alex Karlowitsch, and Jonnae Joseph
• UC Irvine remains in first place in the Big West with 11 points unbeaten in five Big West matches (3-0-2)
• UC Irvine has reached double overtime in five straight matches, it has happened one other time (2012) when the 'Eaters went 1-0-4 down the final stretch of the season. The seven instances reaching double overtime this season is a program record
• UC Irvine has played seven overtime matches in 2018, tied for the third-most in program history. UCI played into overtime eight times in 2012 (2-2-4) and a record nine times in 2003 (3-1-5)
• Shelby Lee scored the lone goal of the weekend building a streak of three straight matches with a goal following Thursday
• Maddie Newsom leapt into fourth all-time in program history now with 198 career saves, and is within reach of 200 career saves which would make her the fourth Anteater keeper to hit that plateau. She's already third in wins all-time with 30. She also earned her second shutout of the season Sunday at UC Davis and 18th shutout of her career
• The Anteaters have played in 15 matches this season with 13 decided by a goal or less including seven wins and three draws
• The Anteaters and 49ers continue the Black and Blue Rivalry Saturday in the second meeting between the squads in the 2018-19 schoolyear. UC Irvine women's volleyball defeated Long Beach State, 3-1, on Oct. 5 giving UCI an early 3-0 lead in the series. A road win for UC Irvine would award them three points while LBSU would earn two points for a home win
 
About CSUN
• The Matadors climbed back over the .500 mark last week now at 6-5-1. Non-conference play included trips to Illinois State (T, 2-2) and Portland State (W OT, 2-1) and a visit from No. 24 Texas Tech (L, 0-2). CSUN has conference wins over Cal State Fullerton and UC Riverside, but handed Cal Poly its only win of the season while falling in overtime to Hawai'i at home as well
• CSUN was slotted to finish fourth from the preseason polls after going 9-4-8 in 2017 and falling just short of an NCAA bid with a 1-1 draw to Cal State Fullerton that the Titans claimed the berth with a win in penalty kicks
• CSUN leads the Big West with over 15 shots per match led by Marissa Favela who has five goals, three game-winners from it, Bethany Fitzsimmons has added three, and Amanda Delgado has taken over in net going 5-3 with three shutouts and 0.84 GAA
 
About Long Beach State
• The 49ers have been a highly-touted mid-major squad since the onset earning votes in many rankings. At 8-4-2, they've battled ranked squads like UCLA, Texas, and Auburn to one-goal defeats along with USC while defeating BYU and SMU
• The 2017 49ers limped to fifth in the Big West at 3-3-2, 9-6-3 overall. So far in 2018, after drawing with CSF, they've taken down Hawai'I, Cal Poly, and UC Santa Barbara to sit a point behind UCI in second, just like the preseason projections
• Dana Fujikuni and Ashley Gonzales run the offense with four goals each, Katie Pingle and Taylor Bistline each have three while a host of others share in the 26 assists on a roster where 13 players have appeared in every match, and keeper Imani McDonald has allowed 13 goals in as many matches stopping 53 shots and producing three shutouts
 
 
With a win...
• ...UCI would snap a three-match losing streak to CSUN
• ...UCI would take home its first win over LBSU since 2015, going 0-1-2 since then
• ...UCI would extend its win streak to four straight against the Highlanders

Up Next
• The 'Eaters have one final regular season match after this week with a trip Thursday to Cal State Fullerton. UCI is off for the final weekend and will watch the other eight squads vie for postseason position and see where they fall
 
Breaking News-om
• Maddie Newsom has set a career high and tied it once this season with nine saves in a match, first in a 2OT loss against Washington, and matching it in the regulation victory over San Diego
• Newsom stopped two penalty attempts in the win over San Francisco giving her three PK saves all-time joining her stop against UC Davis in the 89th minute last season in a 1-0 loss at home
• Newsom surpassed Jenn Randazzo and Kirsten Roy on the all-time wins list this season. She jumped Roy the previous week with wins over UCSB and Cal Poly giving her 30 now which ranks third all-time among Anteater keepers
• Newsom has hurdled Erin Henry, Sarah Swancutt, Janice Taft, Allison Merrick, Jenn Randazzo, Amee Chapman, and now Marissa Welliver this season totaling 198 career saves. Newsom is on pace to be the 'Eaters' fourth keeper all-time with 200 career saves needing 2 this week
• Newsom also joined the 50-match club back on Sep. 16 in the match at Pepperdine. She is among the 76 Anteaters with at least 50 matches played, and she's started all of them making her the 1 of 44 Anteaters with 50+ starts
• Newsom has made an amazing offensive jump assisting on three goals this season, all coming in the last four matches. The three goalkeeper assists sets a new NCAA single-season record, and her three in a career ties her with Baylor's Dawn Greathouse who had three career assists and a goal from 1997-99
 
Numerology
• Overall, the team is 3-1-3 in overtime this year, each time playing in double overtime. UCI has had two 2OT wins one other time in program history (2010). UCI's program record of OT matches in a season is nine (2003) while the seven 2OT matches surpasses the record of six played in (2010)
• In the program's history of 687 matches, 149 of them have reached overtime with UCI winning 34 - 19 in the 1st OT and 15 in the 2nd OT - losing 36 - 27 in the 1st OT and 9 in the 2nd OT - and tying 79 times
• Maddie Newsom won her first ever Big West Defensive Player of the Week October 8 stopping eight shots over 212 minutes and earning two wins. Newsom also assisted on both game-winning goals giving her an NCAA record three assists on the season
• Shelby Lee completed the sweep of Big West Player of the Week awards with Newsom by collecting the offensive honor after scoring a goal in each match over the week including her first career game-winner Sunday to defeat Cal Poly with 28 seconds remaining in 2OT
• Claire Grouwinkel registered her first two multi-goal games in her career against USF and USD with a reward in the form of a Big West Offensive Player of the Week honor. Since 2014, Anteaters have knocked in two goals in a match 12 times including five from Kiana Palacios, two from Laura McGrail, and one from another current Anteater, Lili Andino. Grouwinkel is the only of those that achieved each in consecutive matches
• Alex Karlowitsch starred at setting Grouwinkel up recording a pair of assists vs. USD. Since 2014, Anteaters have registered two assists in a game 17 times with six coming from current Anteaters led by Karlowitsch's three (2014 at UCD, 2016 vs. Pitt), Reema Bzeih's two (2016 vs. CP, 2017 vs. Toledo), and Shelby Lee last year vs. UC Riverside. For Karlowitsch, she moves into a tie for eighth in program history with Natalia Ledezma registering 15 career assists each
• Kelsee Pottorff knocked home her first career goal on Friday to win the match. She is one of five Anteaters (McDaniel, Bzeih, Jaquez, Kelley) to each score their first career goals this season and one of five 'Eaters (Bzeih, Jaquez, Grouwinkel, Kelley) to produce their first game-winner
• The goal scored by McDaniel to start the season was the first by an Anteater defender since Kelsey Texeira in the 2016 Big West Tournament Semifinal vs. Cal State Fullerton. In fact, the Anteaters' first two goals of 2018 were by defenders
• UC Irvine opened the season with a loss at the hands of No. 12 USC. UCI is now 0-3 against ranked opponents to open a season, 0-2 in Anteater Stadium.
•  UCI stands at 6-8-0 all-time against ranked opponents.

Match Making
• Lili Andino joined Alex Karlowitsch as 'Eaters to reach 70 career matches this season. Together, they make the 28th and 29th Anteaters all-time to do that. Karlowitsch also reached 50 starts to become the 44th Anteater with as many in a career joining Reema Bzeih and Maddie Newsom who have done so already in 2018. Andino has potential to join them
• Jessica Miclat and Aleah Kelley joined the ranks of the 50 career match-club last week upping the all-time total to 76 and seven alone win 2018
• Aleah Kelley was issued the program's first red card since 2014 in the loss at Pepperdine. Kelley served her one-game suspension in the team's match at San Francisco
 
Crowd Surfing
• UC Irvine's season opener attracted 1,704 Anteater fans to Anteater Stadium setting a new single-game record for a women's soccer match.
• The previous record of 1,611 fans had stood since 2011 in a 3-1 victory over Portland
• The crowd was the ninth in program history to surpass 1,000 which includes two a season ago.
• The mark fits in as the fourth-largest crowd in the history of the stadium with the three higher marks all belonging to the men's soccer program
• The season-opening crowd, however, is the largest of any team for a regular season contest

Anteaters Around the Globe
• UC Irvine's professional squad grew last month with Mady Solow's signing with Swiss side FC Basel just after it was eliminated from UEFA Champions League qualifying. Solow is with her third professional squad which began in Iceland with Throttur Reykjavik in 2015 scoring one goal in 11 matches. She then leapt to Italian club Chievo Verona for the 2017-18 season starting 21 matches and scoring three times. Solow has even seen action for the Polish national team earning a cap during the 2017 UEFA Women's Championship
• Kiana Palacios began with Spanish side Real Sociedad coming off the bench in each of her first three matches. She joined the Mexican National Team as they attempted to qualify for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup last week, but were unsuccessful with an early exit in group play.
• Noel Baham has helped her Lithuanian side, FK Gintra Universietas, qualify for the Champions League scoring once in her team's three qualifying wins. Baham and FK Gintra played in the Champions League Round of 16 matchups with Slavia Praha, a 3-0 loss, with Baham entering the match in the 62nd minute, and started in the second leg in which they were eliminated.
• Maria Magaña is part of independent side Einherji FC in Iceland where she's earned a win in limited action
 
Preseason Pub
• The Anteaters were voted the favorites to win the Big West Conference in 2018 edging out a projected top four of Long Beach State, Cal State Fullerton, and CSUN
• UC Irvine was 1 of 2 programs (UC Riverside) without a player voted on the Preseason All-Big West squad
• UC Irvine will host the 2018 Big West Tournament after claiming the 2017 regular season title. It will be the fourth time the Big West Tournament has come to UCI
• The 'Eaters return two from the 2017 All-Big West squad - forward Claire Grouwinkel earned All-Freshman Team honors while Maddie Newsom scored Honorable Mention for the second straight season
• Head Coach Scott Juniper returns after earning his second Big West Coach of the Year honor
 
2017-18 Highlights
• UC Irvine claimed its third Big West regular season title joining the 2010 and 2011 squads
• Last season marked the eighth time in 11 seasons under head coach Scott Juniper that the Anteaters have finished with a winning record and seventh time with at least 10 wins
• The Anteaters were responsible for the Big West's Offensive Player of the Year (Noel Baham) and Midfielder of the Year (Kiana Palacios)
• The 'Eaters finished as the conference leaders in assists (32) and shutouts (10) and a tie for the least amount of goals allowed (17) while finishing just behind in second for goals, GAA, and corner kicks
• Coach Juniper became the program's winningest head coach when he won his 114th career match over Oregon, 1-0

Count It
UCI played an exhibition match against Long Beach State at Championship Soccer Stadium in the OC Great Park. After three 30-minute periods, the Anteaters came through with the 1-0 victory on a Claire Grouwinkel goal in the second period. There were 32 Anteaters that made an appearance in the match including 12 freshmen and three different goalkeepers that preserved the shutout. All-time under coach Juniper, UCI is now 2-0-4 in exhibition matches
 
Top of the Heap
Head Coach Scott Juniper enters as the team's head coach for his 12th season. He overtook the program's lead in head coaching wins last season, and enters 2018 with 121 to show for it. Under Juniper, the 'Eaters have won three Big West regular season titles, reached the NCAA Tournament twice, had eight winning seasons, and won as many as 10 games seven times.

Triumphant Returns
The Anteaters get a big boost in key areas by the returns of seniors Alex Karlowitsch and Jonnae Joseph. Karlowitsch sat our 2017 with an injury, but the former All-Big West player as a freshman is back to command the midfielder. Joseph was cut down with an injury before conference play in 2017 missing over half the season. Her tenacity along the wing and senior leadership will fuel each third for the Anteaters

What does the Future Hold?
Coach Juniper has brought in 15 newcomers to the squad this season, 13 of which are freshman. Alex Jaquez and Scarlett Camberos have risen through the ranks quickly looking to earn some minutes as forwards. Midfielders earning some looks have been Amber Huff along with a slew of second-year Anteaters. Defensively, more of the same with a lot of second-year talent ready to make the jump along with the freshman presence of Piper Wurth. Maddie Newsom's grip on the keeper spot is formidable, but the competition for second-in-line is white-hot between senior Idalis Gonzalez, third-year Madi Puliafico, and freshman Glo Hinojosa.

Defending the Crown
The stout reminder of UCI's regular season glory from a year ago is seen by the returning presence on the backline of Aleah Kelley, Reema Bzeih, and Maddie Newsom. Kelley led the team in minutes a year ago while Bzeih added to her breakout sophomore season with five more assists, and Maddie Newsom continues to be the class of the Big West in net posting eight shutouts in each of her first two seasons

She'll Be Back
Shelby Lee has made a lot of noise on and off the field over the last 12 months. She came into her own as a junior playing all 20 matches and scoring her first three goals in addition to assist on a pair. She also has held the title of NCAA Regional SAAC representative for a year now as head of the Big West. She's made a lot of efforts to organize student-athlete life managing time between academic and athletic priorities for all student-athletes, and looks to make a strong final impression all-around in her senior campaign

What's Missing?
The Anteaters graduate their two top scorers from a year ago in Kiana Palacios and Noel Baham, the Big West Midfielder and Big West Offensive Player of the Year, respectively. Each scored six goals and accounted for three game-winners and 11 assists between them. The attacking presence will be dotted with veterans pieces such as juniors Lili Andino, Jessica Miclat, Carley Brown, and Claire Grouwinkel

Opposing Views
The Anteater non-conference schedule is as beefy as ever. The United Soccer Coaches rankings were unveiled Tuesday, and from it two Anteater opponents were issued top-25 status starting with UCI's season-opening guest, USC, at No. 12. Pepperdine starts the year at No. 18 as the 'Eaters will travel to them later in September. One other opponent was receiving votes landing it just outside the top 25 in Arizona, and that could change after the first weekend of play.