A brutal week against No. 6 Georgetown and No. 4 Stanford was somehow made worse by one-goal losses in each match where the 'Eaters hung in but could not find the result. This week, coach Raz and the boys continue a short road trip taking on a rising Creighton squad in Omaha and stopping by Utah Valley Monday night to exact revenge on 2018
6th - The 'Eaters reached their
6th NCAA
Tournament, all within the last 11 seasons. UCI has reached the second round in all six with an overall record of 4-6-1 in tournament matches
#1 - Despite the very early returns, UC Irvine's schedule has been one of the toughest in the nation. In fact, to this point, it is the #1 toughest schedule matched by Saint Louis University. UCI's very early RPI sits at 40. The Anteaters finished 2018 with the 22nd-toughest schedule nationally and an RPI of 23
2-0 - One Anteater was a winner last week in the form of
Kwabena Boateng. In his 10-day trip to Slovenia with the U.S. U-20 national team, he played in both of their friendlies, starting once, helping them go
2-0 against the Zagreb Football Federation and the United Arab Emirates U-23 squad
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STORYLINESÂ
The 'Eaters star freshman
Kwabena Boateng missed the last three matches for UCI as he was training with the U.S. under-20 National Team in Slovenia. Boateng played in both matches as the U.S. defeated the Zagreb Football Federation and UAE U-23s in friendlies
UC Irvine's lone goal came from sophomore
Beto Alvarenga putting away his first career goal and point in the 52nd minute at Cal
UC Irvine began the season ranked at No. 25 in the United Soccer Coaches poll. They finished 2018 just outside the top 25. UC Irvine was also slotted No. 21 according to Top Drawer Soccer's preseason poll. UCI fell out of the voting completely this week. The 'Eaters have faced ranked foes in three of four matches with Creighton on the docket this week receiving votes in the national poll
Over the first two weekends,
10 Anteaters made their debuts with the program with six of them working into the starting XI. Seven of those players were debuting on the Division I level including transfers
Eder Oliva and
Luca Mastrantonio, and five others were freshman making collegiate debuts including
Kwabena Boateng,
Oscar Cervantes,
Ricardo Ibarra, and starters
Roberto Molina and
Eddy Berumen
With 22 players that saw minutes in 2018,
12 of them will return to the squad including six starters in
Jose Ortiz,
Alvaro Quezada,
Michael Orozco,
Jalani Ambrose,
Lawrence Yamaguchi, and
Victor Falck
The Anteaters bring in a talented class of 14 newcomers rated as the top recruiting class in the nation by Top Drawer Soccer. Five of the newcomers are transfers from programs such as New Mexico, San Francisco, Coastal Carolina, and Portland, while another four Anteaters enter the mix after redshirting in their first year with the program in 2018
With a win or draw...Â
...it would be the first result against Creighton in its third try and second ever result in the state of Nebraska
...UCI would snap a five-match winless streak on the road dating back to 2018, six-match winless streak against non-conference foes
...Friday, it would be the fourth result (2-7-1) all-time vs. the Big East (W vs. DePaul, Marquette, T at Georgetown)
...Monday, UCI would improve on its record of 13-1-1 against WAC schools since 2007
CREIGHTON BLUEJAYS
UCI heads to Omaha for the third time to face Creighton having been shutdown by a combined score of 7-1 in previous meetings. The Bluejays are receiving votes after impressive wins over Columbia and No. 21 Akron, a draw at No. 6 North Carolina, and its lone loss at No. 4 Wake Forest, 1-0. Creighton is under new leadership this year in Creighton legend and longtime assistant, Johnny Torres, taking over after coaching legend Elmar Bolowich stepped down, and the squad missed the 2018 postseaon despite an 11-4-3 record and 7-1-1 Big East record. The Bluejays have seen six different players score their seven goals, and Paul Kruse in net has 16 saves early on. Morrison Stadium is a tough place to play bringing in over 2,700 fans last year, third-most in the nation, including over 6,000 fans total in the two appearances the Anteaters made in 2011 and 2015
UTAH VALLEY WOLVERINESÂ
Utah Valley came into Anteater Stadium and dropped them in the 2018 home opener, 2-1. Each side has one once in the series as UCI makes its first-ever trip to the state of Utah on Monday. UVU already has three Big West opponents under its belt beating Cal Poly, drawing at CSUN, and losing at Cal State Fullerotn, and will have Canisius in town before UCI shows up. UVU was 9-9-0 last year in just its fifth season since forming back in 2014. Leading scorer Blake Frischknecht returns (6 G, 1 A) as do Zach Maas and Alec Felix who contributed three goals each as the three of them have accounted for their three goals. Aaron Caprio picked up Defensive Player of the Week in the opening week, and he stands in front of Joseph Wheelwright and Mitch Jensen who are still fighting for minutes in net
