UC Irvine's 2018 journey stalled in the NCAA Second Round falling to No. 9 Stanford, but the Anteaters are back among the nation's elite following an 11-6-4 year with a conference title, two conference players of the year, and a return to the NCAA Tournament
 
Storylines
>> UC Irvine finished 2018 with a record of 11-6-4, the 13th time the program has reached double-digit wins in a season and 12th time with as many as 11
>> UC Irvine secured an at-large berth for the second time in program history to reach its sixth NCAA Tournament
>> UC Irvine advanced through the NCAA First Round after a 1-1 draw with Grand Canyon and a 6-5 win in the penalty kick shootout, the program's first-ever postseason PK shootout victory in three tries
>> UC Irvine won its fifth Big West regular season title and first since 2013, and the program has won the last three regular seasons titles that featured a one-division format in the Big West (2010, 2011, 2018)
>> Ivan Canales was named Big West Offensive Player of the Year finishing the regular season as the conference's points leader with 25 and is tied atop the goal leaders at 10. His six game-winning goals remain the conference's best and second-best in all the NCAA. He is the second straight Anteater to take home this award (Giovanni Godoy) and the first Anteater to appear on All-Big West all four years
>> Daniel Crisostomo became the fourth Big West Midfielder of the Year in program history and first since 2013 after amassing three goals and assists along with his defensive handiwork. He joined Canales on the All-Big West First Team, his second career all-conference award
>> Three Anteaters represented on the All-Big West Second Team including Jose Ortiz (8 G, 4 A) and Darren Hamilton (3 A, 6 clean sheets) each making their first appearance while Jose Soto (1 G, 1 A) made his second appearance in two years with the squad. Alvaro Quezada, the Big West's co-assist leader with six graced the Honorable Mention squad as a sophomore, and freshman Michael Orozco (1 G, 1 A, 6 clean sheets) made All-Freshman Team as the fifth 'Eater in the six years the team has been named
>> Head Coach Yossi Raz claimed Big West Coach of the Year honors in just his second season at the helm. It's the first coach of the year at UCI since 2008, the seventh honor for UCI, fifth in the Big West, and third coach overall joining George Kuntz and Derek Lawther
 
First Touches
>> The Anteaters swept player of the week accolades for a second time this season with Ivan Canales taking home offensive praise and Darren Hamilton on the defensive side for the first weekly award for each player on October 22
>> The Anteaters swept player of the week accolades on October 8 with Alvaro Quezada earning offensive honors and Greg Patenaude scoring defensive honors as recognized by the Big West, the first career honor for either player
>> The Anteaters' had a home shutout streak 474 minutes before conceding twice to UC Santa Barbara, a streak that stretched over the course of five matches
>> The 'Eaters and keeper Greg Patenaude also had shutout streaks of 320 minutes and started the season with a 252-minute shutout streak
>> Two Anteaters were honored in the Courtyard Marriott San Diego Central Aztec Soccer Tournament where it finished 1-1. Ivan Canales and Jose Soto were named to the all-tournament team
>> Greg Patenaude registered 10 saves in the win at UC Davis for a new career high, and it marks the 15th time an Anteater keeper has made 10 or more saves and first since Michael Breslin did so in 2012
>> Seven Anteaters have opened their scoring accounts this season, most recently Lawrence Yamaguchi who opened the scoring at UC Davis. Others are Daniel Crisostomo, Jose Soto, Manny Acosta, Christian Gutierrez, Jalani Ambrose, and Michael Orozco. For Orozco, Gutierrez, and Acosta, it also represented their first collegiate points
>> UC Irvine men's soccer finished non-conference play with a 6-4-1 mark. The 'Eaters' schedule in 2018 ranked as the 22nd-toughest in the nation
>> UC Irvine earned 14 corner kicks in the win over Pomona-Pitzer tying a program record that has been set four times prior with the most recent coming in a Big West Tournament match in 2015 at Cal Poly. The squad averages five corners per match good for second in the Big West
 
Big Time Moments
>> UC Irvine opened the season with a 0-0 draw at San Diego. Keeper Greg Patenaude saved the game literally for the 'Eaters by stopping a penalty kick attempt in the 100th minute that would have ended the match
>> The Anteaters went cross country to UCF and shut down the offensive juggernaut while stealing a win with a 98th-minute strike from Alvaro Quezada for the 1-0 overtime victory
>> The 'Eaters got back in the win column against James Madison, but not after losing Darren Hamilton to a red card in the 32nd minute. The Dukes scored took the lead in the 52nd minute, but UCI clawed back to tie on a Jose Ortiz free kick in the 62nd minute, and then Ivan Canales put the match away with a sliding shot and score in the 104th minute of double overtime
>> Despite a 90th minute goal to stop UCI's 270-minute shutout streak, the 'Eaters blitzed San Francisco for four goals and a 4-1 victory to build another three-match win streak outscoring Pomona-Pitzer, Brown, and USF by a count of 11-1
>> UC Irvine started conference play with three straight wins punctuated by a come-from-behind victory at No. 25 UC Davis with Patenaude coming up big with a career high 10 saves to turn away the Aggies
>> The Anteaters kept their unbeaten streak in conference alive as Canales put home his second goal of the match in the 102nd minute of double overtime to turn away Cal State Fullerton
>> UC Irvine need something extra in its next match after watching a 2-0 lead salt away from two Mustang goals late. Canales would be there again for his second straight brace putting home the game-winner with two seconds left in double overtime to take the 3-2 victory and give the Anteaters the Big West regular season title in the process
>> UCI's sixth trip to the NCAA Tournament started in the first round against the streaking WAC champion Grand Canyon. An own goal in the 70th minute sent the match to overtime, and in penalty kicks, the 'Eaters made six straight attempts winning on a save by Patenaude, his second of the shootout, in the seventh round to send the 'Eaters through to the Second Round in its first-ever penalty kick shootout victory
 
Joining The Club
>> Senior Ivan Canales' has joined Kevin Smith (22 G, 24 A) as the only two Anteaters in program history with 20 goals and 20 assists over a career
>> Canales' 25 career goals tie him with Spencer Thompson for sixth-most in an Anteater career. He produced two braces giving him four in his career now
>> His 20th career assist came on the 'Eaters' second goal at Cal Poly making him the third Anteater with at least 20 assists
>> He's added to his point total now at 70 over his career. He's now the fourth Anteaters with 70 or more points standing just three behind P.J. Polowski and Brad Evans for a career
>> Canales accounted for both game-winners last week giving him nine for his career. He's tied Thompson also for that, third-most in program history. Another GWG will put him among Brad Evans (10) and Matt Murphy (11) for the only 'Eaters with double digits
>> The senior was also named to the Google Cloud Academic All-District squad as a sociology major and education minor as one of 11 members of the District VIII squad. The All-American team will be announced on December 8
 
Record Recall
>> Ivan Canales finishes among the Anteater leaders all-time in goals (25 - 4th), assists (20 - 3rd), points (70 - 3rd), and game-winning goals (9 - 3rd)
>> Canales did become the single-season Anteater record holder in game-winning goals putting six home in 2018. He also joined the top 10s in goals and assists as 1 of 12 'Eaters all-time with 25 or more points in addition to being 1 of 14 'Eaters to put home 10 or more goals in a year
>> Canales just missed out of the top 10 in regards to matches played finishing with 77, two off of a quartet of Anteaters with 79 all-time. Daniel Crisostomo also reached the 70 matches played mark with 74 all-time starting 59
>> Greg Patenaude finishes with six career shutouts which sneaks him into the top 10 Anteater keepers all-time. His winning percentage of .625 (13-7-4) stands as the fourth-highest in program history. Fellow keeper, Alex Waldron, will enter his senior season as the 10th-best winning percentage (9-11-3)
>> The Anteaters scored exactly 35 goals for the second straight season, both times they lead the Big West Conference
>> UC Irvine played nine overtime matches tying a program record set in 2007. UCI was 4-1-4 in those OT matches
 
Voter Turnout
>> The Anteaters broke into the Top 25 of the United Soccer Coaches on Oct. 23 for the first time since 2015. UCI was No. 21 after receiving votes in four previous polls this season, and have received votes in the poll in seven different weeks
>> UCI has been ranked in Top Drawer Soccer's Top 25 poll for the last six weeks currently at No. 22 and have been as high as No. 13 in 2018
>> The program was included in the United Soccer Coaches poll two weeks ago coming in at No. 21, the program's first ranking since 2015.
>> UCI squared off with seventh-ranked Stanford according to the United Soccer Coaches poll, 1 of 3 ranked opponents for UCI in 2018. UCI defeated No. 25 UC Davis and lost at No. 10 Saint Mary's on the road this season for a 21-26-6 all-time record against ranked opponents.
>> Other previously unranked opponents are now in the polls such as UCF at No. 9 and James Madison receiving votes. Saint Mary's has since risen to No. 4
>> UCI is 3-2-0 against other programs to reach the NCAA Tournament. UCI won in OT on the road at UCF in addition to a road win at Big West champion UC Riverside. UCI came back to defeat James Madison at home after being dealt a red card in the 32nd minute and trailing with 36 minutes remaining. The 'Eaters also have road losses at Saint Mary's and Pacific
 
Playing Professionally
>> UC Irvine has 11 Anteaters making a mark on various professional circuits
>> Two MLS staples continue to be Miguel Ibarra and Brad Evans. Ibarra is in his seventh pro season where he's earned over 150 caps between Minnesota United FC and Leon of LigaMX. In his sixth season with MLS-side MNUFC, he has six goals upping the midfielder's career total to 27. Evans has bounced between Sporting KC and its USL side, Swope Park Rangers, seeing action in four matches total. He's played 226 matches with 28 goals in his 11 pro seasons largely with Seattle Sounders FC and Columbus Crew SC winning an MLS title with each
>> The pair also account for all of the national team appearances for UCI alums. Evans took part in 27 World Cup qualifiers, Gold Cup, Confederations Cup, and friendly matches scoring an infamous goal in stoppage time of an WCQ to defeat Jamaica. Ibarra
has three caps under his belt, all in U.S. friendlies.
>> Six Anteaters reside with USL clubs, most prominently Cam Iwasa as one of the league's leading scorers on Sac Republic FC scoring 27 times over four seasons. Marco Franco has joined with Penn FC while Thomas Janjigian is on the backline for Reno 1868. Mats Bjurman and Giovanni Godoy have teamed up on local side Orange County SC scoring seven goals between them this season. Tarek Morad joined up with USL side Tampa Bay Rowdies recently after a few years with Louisville City FC
>> Others still making waves Enrique Cardenas, playing with Golden State Force FC when he's not coaching at College of the Desert, Lester Hayes III and Amani Walker, each playing with at times with NPSL side Albion SC Pros SD, and Irving Garcia is still extending his career going on sixth overall as a professional and second year now with Guatemalan side, Suchitepequez.

Trending Up
UC Irvine's 8-8-3 campaign and fourth place finish in the Big West South in 2017 doesn't jump off the page, but its a move in the right direction after back-to-back five-win seasons in 2015 and 2016. The goals rose with the results with the team scoring 35 goals, up from 20 in 2016 and 23 in 2015. The Anteaters also dropped 41 assists on those goals last season, its most since 2010's total of 42 assists.

Back for More
Here for his second season as the head coach of the Anteaters is Yossi Raz. He made great strides within his first two years as the head of Cal Poly Pomona taking a program that won three matches prior to his arrival, pushed them to a 7-7-3 mark in his first go, and jumped to a 17-1-2 record in his second season leading to a national title appearance by his third year.

Opposing Views
UC Irvine's collective schedule might not be so daunting from first glance, but a lot of postseason experience lays in waiting for the Anteaters with squads like Pacific and San Francisco coming off tourney appearances last year. Others have been successful elsewhere such as UCF projected to win the American Athletic Conference in the preseason, James Madison the reigning Colonial Athletic Association regular season champs, and Brown finish third a year ago in a highly-competitive Ivy League. In addition, five Anteater opponents have earned votes in the United Soccer Coaches preseason rankings which includes Sunday's opponent, UCLA.