IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine women's soccer dug deep to erase an early deficit and put themselves atop the Big West standings with a 2-1 win over UC Davis Sunday afternoon in Anteater Stadium.
Senior Society
Sunday's match celebrated the eight seniors on the squad this season -
Idalis Gonzalez,
Carley Brown,
Jessica Miclat,
Cassidy Kallenborn,
Aleah Kelley,
Kyndal McKinney,
Maddie Newsom, and
Jio Mamola. The seniors were celebrated in a ceremony after the match.
Shaky Start
The visiting Aggies (5-7-0, 0-2-0) fired the first shot cashing in on a foul in the fifth minute. Janessa Staab laced a ball from about 30 yards out right on target somehow fitting in over the leaping
Maddie Newsom and under the crossbar for the opening goal making it 1-0, UC Davis.
Anteater Aggression
The Anteaters (3-9-0, 2-0-0) went on the offensive to get back in the match, and found their equalizer in the 11th minute.
Kala McDaniel sent the ball ahead from the backline onto a streaking
Scarlett Camberos down the left flank. She beared down on goal and beat keeper Nicki Rucki inside the far post to tie it up, 1-1
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The pressure continued into the 35th minute as UCI drove into the offensive half. Camberos was on the ball this time crossing it into the box. Freshman
Erin Covey got up to meet the ball and direct it back to
Carley Brown who slid in and was rewarded by volleying the ball back onto goal and through the keeper for the goal and a 2-1 lead.
Final Score: UC Irvine 2, UC Davis 1
The team earned its first victory after going behind this season. Camberos assumed the team lead with her third goal and eighth point.
Kala McDaniel added an assist, her second, and
Erin Covey notched her first collegiate point helping along the game-winning goal.
Clutch Carley
Carley Brown finally got on the board this year with her first career assist and goal earlier this season, and on Sunday she added her first career game-winning goal and first goal in Anteater Stadium in front of her friends and family on Senior Day.
"Really special. To score with my whole family here, my whole support system was great," Brown said with a huge smile and her family all around her.
"We've been working on getting everybody into the box in practice, we know we're going to get crosses in. In my position, I knew Scarlett was going to be there and beat the outside back, she had been all day, so I knew I had to get into the box. A got a perfect touch off of Erin's 'gut', but it just worked out perfect."
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The 'Eaters are the first team to 2-0 in the Big West scoring six huge points to start conference play.
"We definitely need to refresh because we were definitely in our heads from all the difficult games. It's really helpful to start Big West play with everyone at the same level, and we knew that we were capable for doing it"
Island Time
The next challenge sends UCI to Hawai'i for one match next week, late Thursday night at 10:00 p.m. Pacific time in a match with a pair of unbeaten teams in conference
