Game Notes

Loyola Marymount Lions at UC Irvine Anteaters
Friday, Sep. 7, 2018 - 7:00 PM
Anteater Stadium - Irvine, Calif.
Live Stats | Tickets | Game Program

UC Irvine Anteaters at San Diego State Aztecs
Sunday, Sep. 9, 2018 - 5:00 PM
SDSU Sports Deck - San Diego, Calif.
Live Stats

Storylines
• UC Irvine is 1 of 3 Big West squads that hold a winning record through the first two weekends of play
• Ivan Canales scored the game-winner in the 104th minute Sunday night to complete the comeback in a 2-1 victory over JMU
• The Anteaters played a man down for the final 73 minutes of Sunday's match, and overcame a 1-0 deficit in the 52nd minute
• The 'Eaters also suffered a loss on Friday after taking the lead in the 29th minute against Utah Valley, but allowing a pair of second half goals including an own goal for a 2-1 loss
• Jose Ortiz  took the team lead in points and goals scoring in each game over the past week
  
About Loyola Marymount
• The Lions travelled to the Midwest, but due to weather only got one match in. LMU and Loyola Chicago never got their Friday match in, and LMU would follow up with a 3-0 defeat at DePaul Sunday
• The 2017 Lions struggled to a 5-12-3 mark while going 2-3 against Big West schools including a 2-0 home defeat to the Anteaters. The preseason WCC poll voted LMU to finish seventh in the eight-team conference
• Sophomore Francis Avoce leads the Lions with two goals scored on his first two shots of the season, senior Antonio Porreco has three points from a goal and an assist, senior Cole Souza has played every minute along the backline, and keeper Paul Lewis has joined him stopping 14 shots while allowing three goals per match
 
About San Diego State
• The Aztecs are looking for their first win after losses to Army West Point and at Santa Clara mixed in with a draw at San Francisco. SDSU will face LIU Brooklyn Friday before UCI comes to town, all part of the Courtyard Marriott SD Central Tournament
• The 2017 squad struggled to a 1-9 mark in the competitive Pac-12 Conference, but finished 7-13-0 with six non-conference wins.  UCI hasn't played since drawing in 2015, but UCI is 3-0-2 in the last five. The preseason Pac-12 poll has SDSU near the bottom of the six-team field alongside Oregon State
• Pac-12 preseason team selection junior Pablo Pelaez has both of the team's goals so far, junior Swede Hampus Bergdahl leads the squad with five shots,  senior Aleks Berkolds has commanded the backline for all 290 minutes, and his keeper behind him, senior Kiwi Cameron Hogg, has made five saves and allowed five goals
 
With a win...
• ...in both matches, UCI would reach 300 wins all-time for the program
• ...over LMU, UCI would improve to 17-9-1 all-time against them, 9-5 at home, and be their fourth win in last five matches vs. LMU
• ...over SDSU, UCI would improve to 7-12-4 all-time and remain unbeaten in the last six matches dating back to 2006
 
Up Next
• UC Irvine finish out their non-conference home slate hosting DIII side Pomona-Pitzer and Ivy League school Brown on Friday, Sep. 14 and Sunday, Sep. 16.
 
 
Twice as Nice
UCI bounced back after a tough Friday loss and nightmare start to Sunday's match to come from behind and win in double overtime against James Madison. After going over two years without an OT win, UCI now has two in its last three games. The double OT win is the first for UCI since 2014 when it defeated its Friday opponent, Utah Valley, with a goal in the 103rd minute. The 104th-minute goal Sunday is the latest for an Anteater goal since earlier in that 2014 season when Gor Kirakosyan scored on a PK in the 105th minute to win at Loyola Marymount
 
Pat on the Back
UC Irvine opened the season without allowing a goal for 252 minutes, the third-longest stretch to open a season in program history. Greg Patenaude was in goal for all 252 minutes, and dating back to the end of last season, had a streaks of 320 minutes without a goal and 11 consecutive shots even though technically the first goal he allowed was an own goal. He has made one game-saving stop on a 100th-minute PK at USD, his second career PK save
 
First Touches
• Another Anteater debut came through over the weekend as freshman Beto Alvarenga made his collegiate debut entering in the 83rd minute Sunday and playing in the midfield for 14 minutes
• For the likes of Alvarenga, Jalani Ambrose, Michael Orozco, Darren Hamilton, Ben Reveno, and Axel Adler, all made their Anteater Stadium debuts in the two games over the weekend
• Greg Patenaude also made his Anteater Stadium debut coming in the seven match of his career
 
Top Dog
Senior Ivan Canales continued his impressive run as an Anteater scoring his fourth career game-winner Sunday in the 104th minute to beat James Madison. He remains the team's active career leader in goals, with 16, assists, with 15, and points, with 47. It also came in his 60th career match in which he's started 52 of them
 
Starting a Trend
Junior Jose Ortiz scored in each match over the weekend, his first time scoring in back-to-back matches. UCI players scored in consecutive matches five times last season including four times from Giovanni Godoy. The last player with goals in more than three straight matches was Eduardo Calzada who scored in four straight matches in 2015. That same year, Jaime Phillips earned a point in seven straight matches.
 
Opening Statements
UC Irvine now stands at 22-9-4 all-time in season openers, 2-3-1 when opening on the road. UCI fell in its home opener Friday, 2-1 to Utah Valley, to snap its streak of 13 straight unbeaten home openers that dated back to 2004.
 
Voter Turnout
UC Irvine earned 18 votes in the United Soccer Coaches poll to begin last week. Poll results are released every Tuesday. The 'Eaters have not landed in the top 25 since 2015, but do hold a 20-25-6 all-time record against ranked opponents
 
Exhibiting Quality
UC Irvine took to the pitch twice last week for exhibition matches starting at home Thursday defeating Bakersfield, 2-0. Ivan Canales and Axel Adler scored first-half strikes. They finished up Sunday with a trip to UCLA for the first men's soccer match in newly-constructed Wallis Annenberg Stadium. The Bruins, who are receiving votes in the national preseason poll, would take the victory scoring in the 71st minute to defeat UCI, 1-0.

 
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 152 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 and 28 goals in his 11 professional 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 resides 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 also 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.
 
2017-18 Highlights
• UCI returned to a .500 campaign in 2017 after consecutive five-win years
• The Anteaters led the conference in scoring in the regular season with 35 goals led by conference-leader Giovanni Godoy's 13. They also put up a Big West-best 41 assists, its most since the 2010 campaign, with Daniel Crisostomo and Mario Ortiz topping the conference with nine each
• UCI took down one of its two ranked opponents in 2017 defeating No. 8 Denver, 1-0, on a neutral site. It also took No. 9 Louisville to the wire on the road as the 'Eaters stand 20-25-6 all-time against ranked foes

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.

What's Missing?
The right foot of Giovanni Godoy is the largest omission from the 2018 Anteaters after the reigning Big West Offensive Player of the Year graduated and is now playing alongside 'Eater alum Mats Bjurman on Orange County SC. His conference-leading 13 goals accounted for 37% of UC Irvine's production including half of the squad's eight game-winning goals.

Senior Step-Up
The Anteater core in 2018 will be strongly represented by senior leadership of Ivan Canales, Daniel Crisostomo, and Luis Leon. Canales returns following a third All-Big West selection, the midfielder centerpiece has a new number and an edge and the attacking leader going forward. Crisostomo is one of the nation's leading returners in assists after dishing out nine as a junior. Over the summer, he continued to add to his resume in the midfield playing for Orange County FC and was named to the National XI for the season of the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL). Leon has rode a consistent offensive ledger accounting for multiple goals and at least six points in each of his first three years as an Anteater.

Second-Year Sensations
The Anteaters got positive dividends from its new crop of transfers a year ago with a steady hand in the midfield from Victor Falck, and also on the backline, Jose Soto stood above the rest earning an All-Big West selection. Impactful freshmen Alvaro Quezada and Lawrence Yamaguchi fit right in to coach Raz's mentality, and will be prime figures to keep the scoring at a high level for the 'Eaters

Chon Zone
Another hefty absence will be the skillful frame of Mario Ortiz who contribute nine assists a year ago, but another Ortiz, Jose, is primed to join the scoring barrage. He's contributed five goals to this point in his career including three as a sophomore

Keeper's Corner
The healthiest competition on the squad could come between the posts with senior Greg Patenaude and junior Alex Waldron each coming in with an experienced hand. Patenaude finished the 2017 season as the No. 1 guy scoring a pair of wins in the final three matches. Waldron played half of the matches in his first year, and them rolled through a majority of his sophomore campaign atop the depth chart putting together nine wins and five shutouts across the seasons. The two will likely each see time through the exhibition matches.

What does the Future Hold?
The recently-revealed nine newcomers joining the squad in 2018 for coach Raz features some very veteran talent. Three transfers enter the fray with two in line to be big parts of the 2018 plans. Senior back Darren Hamilton has commanded backlines on the junior college and Division I levels, and will provide a huge boost to pair with Soto. Jalani Ambrose has a couple of years experience from Santa Clara skating down the wings and being thrust into a defensive role. In addition to the vets, the 'Eaters bring on six freshmen that could be called upon with an abbreviated roster of 25 players at coach Raz's disposal. The likes of Axel Adler and Ben Reveno who will make their first steps onto an Anteater pitch, and the returns of redshirts Manny Acosta and Christian "GunGun" Gutierrez will also be felt in the formation

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.