UC Irvine heads out for its first road contests of the season after beginning 2018 with four at home, and match up with Pac-12 power Washington and historical soccer factory in host Portland
 

Nike Portland Invitational
UC Irvine Anteaters vs. Washington Huskies
Friday, Sep. 7, 2018 - 4:30 PM
Merlo Field - Portland, Ore.
Live Stats | Video

UC Irvine Anteaters at Portland Pilots
Sunday, Sep. 9, 2018 - 1:30 PM
Merlo Field - Portland, Ore.
Live Stats | Video

Storylines
• The 'Eaters won their first match of the season dropping LMU, 2-1, after a first half goal, and LMU equalizer in the 83rd minute, and a game-winner three minutes later from senior Lili Andino
• Aleah Kelley opened her Anteater scoring account as a redshirt junior heading home the opener Friday for her first career point and goal
• Lili Andino knocked home her second career game-winning goal set up by Kelsee Pottorff and Alex Karlowitsch
• The Anteaters will play its fourth Pac-12 opponent of the season, most in program history, searching for its 19th all-time win against Pac-12 competition and first against the University of Washington
• Keeper Maddie Newsom inserted herself into UCI's top 10 all-time saves leaders currently set in eighth with 149 career saves

About Washington
• The Huskies are 2-2-1 through the early going with shutout wins over Cal State Fullerton and Portland. Losses have come at No. 7 Portland and part of the Husky Nike Invitational last weekend where they fell to Wisconsin and drew with Michigan State
• The 2017 squad struggled down the stretch winless in its last six matches dooming its postseason chances after a 7-2 non-conference record including wins at Michigan State and Illinois and a home victory over No. 2 Florida
• Washington was projected to finish in eighth according to the Pac-12 preseason poll. Sophomore Olivia Van der Jagt has three goals, two game-winners, and seven points thus far for the Huskies, junior Lisa Jensen has a pair of assists off the backline, sophomore Kaylene Pang has played all 475 minutes with her, and  junior keeper Siena Ruelas has earned player of the week honors in addition to her pair of shutouts and 18 saves through five matches
 
About Portland
• The Pilots have 2-3-0 losing its last three to Washington, Michigan State, and Wisconsin under first-year coach Michelle French
• The 2017 squad struggled to a 5-13-1 mark including a loss to UCI, 3-0, and a win over UC Davis, but just two WCC victories. The 2018 Pilots were projected to finish seventh in the WCC with junior midfielder Kimberly Hazlett selected to the preseason squad
• Hazlett has led the way with two goals and an assist, sophomore Taryn Ries has two of the squad's three assists and a team-high 10 shots, and senior keeper Rachel Lusby has 13 saves and a 0.79 goals-against-average through her five matches
 
With a win...
• ...over Washington, UCI would earn its first against the school that is hasn't faced since 2015
• ...over Washington, UCI would have a win over a Pac-12 school in three straight seasons, and a result in 6 of the last 7
• ...over Portland, the 'Eaters would have two straight against Portland, three all-time, and the first at Portland
 
 
Up Next
• UC Irvine continues its five-match road swing heading up to a much-improved Fresno State squad on Friday, Sep. 14, before heading back down for a crack at highly-touted Pepperdine Sunday, Sep. 16
 
Numerology
• Two Anteaters have played all 380 minutes in the season - keeper Maddie Newsom and center back Aleah Kelley. Others with at least 300 minutes played are defenders Kala McDaniel (359) and Jonnae Joseph (301), and fellow freshman Amber Huff (357).
• The goal scored by Kala McDaniel 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
• Against Pac-12 competition, UC Irvine is 18-50-9 all-time with its 78th all-time match on Friday
• 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
• Friday saw the Anteater debut of sophomore forward Kyndal McKinney who transferred right before the season from the University of Indiana. She entered in the 31st minute and then again in the 80th minute totaling 20 minutes on the match
• Alex Karlowitsch made her triumphant return after missing the entire 2017 season with an injury. She entered as a sub vs. Arizona, and graced the starting XI Sunday vs. Utah in the midfield.
• Sophomore Caitlin Sanchez returns to play her old program, Washington, that she played one match for in 2017
• Second-year midfielder McKenzie Madison, who made her collegiate debut in the season opener, picked up her first career start Sunday against Utah
• Another Anteater was added to the list of players with 50 career matches played as Elizabeth Hutchison came on as a sub in the 25th minute against Utah. She becomes the 70th Anteater with 50 or more caps and fourth on the current squad joining Alex Karlowitsch (61), Lili Andino (61), Shelby Lee (55), and Jonnae Joseph who joined the list in the opener
• UC Irvine has 10 players on the roster with at least 40 career matches played
 
Record Heights
• 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 week 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
• Maria Magaña is part of independent side Einherji FC in Iceland where she's earned a win in limited action
• Kiana Palacios is ready to begin with Spanish side Real Sociedad as their season gets going in September
• 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 will start league play this week, and have been matched up with Czech club Slavia Praha in the knockout stage of the competition that gets underway September 11
 
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.