UC Irvine's Big West road rolls along with a pair of matches in Anteater Stadium with a seasoned UC Santa Barbara squad following by the upward-trending Cal Poly program in Sunday's Think Pink match
   
Storylines
• Reema Bzeih came to the rescue with one second left in double overtime to deposit her first career goal and win the match against Hawai'i, 1-0. Her performance earned Big West Defensive Player of the Week honors, the second of her career
• Bzeih and the defense pitched its first shutout of 2018 held firm by two saves from Maddie Newsom
• UC Irvine returns to the .500-mark at 5-5-1 on the season and is among the three squads (UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara) to earn the full allotment of points early on in Big West play
• The 'Eaters will honor breast cancer survivors and recognize awareness toward the cure for breast cancer in a Think Pink-themed match on Sunday
 
About UC Santa Barbara
• The Gauchos had a successful non-conference run going 7-4-0 going 5-2 away from Santa Barbara which included an OT win over Cal. The losses have come to familiar foes in Pepperdine, San Francisco, and a ranked Santa Clara squad.
• UCSB opened Big West play with a home shutout win over UC Davis. The trip to UCI begins a tough stretch at UCI, UCR, and LBSU before a homestand and finally at Cal Poly. The Gauchos were projected to finish sixth in the competitive conference.
• The Gauchos sport the Big West's points leader in Shaelen Murison (7 G, 4 A), six other Gauchos have scored twice this season including the senior midfield of Jessica Clegg, Madeline Gibson, and Sydney Magnin, and keepers junior Hanna DeWeese and freshman Natalie Hill have split the starts with DeWeese stopping more shots (26), Hill with the better GAA (0.89), and each securing four wins and two shutouts.
• For the second straight week, the Big West's Offensive and Defensive players of the week will square off as Reema Bzeih represents UCI and the defensive side against UCSB junior Lynsee Voss who earned offensive honors after a game-winning goal
 
About Cal Poly
• The Mustangs have struggled through a winless non-conference seasons going 0-8-3 drawing with Marquette, San Jose State, and Seattle U while dropping to four ranked squads in No. 1 Stanford, No. 6 Santa Clara, No. 8 USC, and No. 16 Washington State to put Cal Poly through the rigors. They currently have been outscored 32-11, but put up three goals against the four ranked teams
• The tests helped Cal Poly as it started Big West play with a win over CSUN and ending the weekend with a split losing to UC Davis. CP also travels to Riverside before heading to UCI. The Mustangs were projected to finish eighth in the conference
• The offense has spread the production around with eight different goal scorers led by senior Sydney Knauer's three including the lone game-winner, the defense is glued together by senior Chelsea Barry and freshman Ava McCray, and junior keeper Sophia Brown leads the conference with 73 saves while allowing 14 goals in the nine matchups not against ranked programs
 
With a win...
• ...UCI secure its third straight win in the series against UCSB and Cal Poly
• ...the 'Eaters would extend its season-high winning streak to four matches. Wins or draws would extend UCI's streak of four straight unbeaten at home (3-0-1)

Up Next
• UC Irvine returns to the road for two tough tests against a currently unbeaten UC Riverside squad, Thursday, Oct. 11, and continuing on to UC Davis for an afternoon match, Sunday, Oct. 14
 
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 on the all-time wins list at UCI with her 28th against Hawai'i. That win jumped her to a tie with Kirsten Roy at 28 each and third in the program's history
• Newsom has hurdled Erin Henry, Sarah Swancutt, Janice Taft, Allison Merrick, Jenn Randazzo, and now Amee Chapman this season totaling 182 career saves. Just ahead of her is Marissa Welliver with 187 career saves as Newsom is on pace to be the 'Eaters' fourth keeper all-time with 200 career saves
• Newsom also joined the 50-match club back on Sep. 16 in the match at Pepperdine. She is among the 73 Anteaters with at least 50 matches played, and she's started all of them making her the 43rd Anteaters with 50+ starts
• Lost in Newsom's defensive effort was her assist on Grouwinkel's first goal in Sunday's win over USD. It's the first assist and point for the junior keeper and the first for any Anteater keeper since the season opener, Aug. 20, 2010, when Danielle de Seriere assisted on UCI's winner in a 2-1 victory over Idaho
 
Numerology
• Claire Grouwinkel registered her first two multi-goal games in her career against USF and USD. 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
• Grouwinkel fell short each time of a hat trick, something UCI hasn't had since 2011 when Lexi Kopf and Natalia Ledezma each had one in consecutive weeks. The program has seen 14 hat tricks over its history including one 4-goal game
• Alex Karlowitsch starred at setting Grouwinkel up recording a pair of assists Sunday. 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
• 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
• Lili Andino came through with a spectacular free kick goal on Friday. She now leads the team and is third in the Big West with a pair of game-winning goals, now with three in her career
• 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
• Alex Karlowitsch has the opportunity to reach 70 matches played as an Anteater this weekend which would make her the 28th in program history to do so
• Graduate senior Reema Bzeih played her 50th match with the Anteaters at Pepperdine, the 72nd player in program history. It was also her 50th career start, the 42nd 'Eater to reach 50 starts. In her career, she's played 61 matches starting 59 between UC Irvine and UCLA
• Kelsee Pottorff was the newest 'Eater to reach 50 career match doing so as a sub in Sunday's win at home over San Diego. Over her career, she's started six times and earned two points, both on assists
• 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 two matches against Malaga (68') and Logroño (54')
• 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.