FIRST TOUCHES 
UC Irvine's opening weekend resulted in a loss and draw on the road at 11th-ranked Saint Mary's and Pac-12's Cal. The schedule ramps up more with a visit from Big East power, Georgetown, and a Monday revenge trip to Stanford to face a pair of top-6 schools
  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
55 - The 'Eaters have faced off with a ranked opponent 55 times in the program's history building a record of 21-28-6. This weekend, UCI goes toe-to-toe with the 4th and 6th ranked teams in the nation, the fifth season in which UCI has played two top-6 opponents. UCI has four wins and one draw all-time in 15 career meetings with a top-6-ranked program
22nd - UC Irvine's 2018 schedule finished up as the 22nd-toughest among the 206 Division I programs. UC Irvine earned an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament thanks to its RPI of 23

STORYLINES 
UC Irvine's lone goal came from sophomore Beto Alvarenga putting away his first career goal and point in the 52nd minute Sunday

Over the weekend, 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

The 'Eaters will miss star freshman Kwabena Boateng who is training with the U.S. under-20 National Team for the next week in Slovenia where he will participate in friendlies against U-23 teams from Croatia and United Arab Emirates

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 rankings this week, but is still receiving votes

The Anteaters began the season on the road for the fourth straight season falling to 21-10-5 with the loss. This week, it looks for its first win in a home opener under coach Raz as it enters 2019 with a 23-7-5 all-time record in home openers

With a win or draw... 
...it would be UCI's 22nd over a ranked opponent, and it would give coach Raz a ranked win in each of his first three seasons
...UCI would win its first home opener under coach Raz (0-1-1)
...would improve the 'Eaters' all-time record against the Big East which stands at 2-6-1

#6 GEORGETOWN HOYAS
The Hoyas are the first ever Big East school to visit Anteater Stadium on Friday. UCI is 2-6-1 against the conference with the lone meeting with Georgetown ending in a draw in 2014, when Georgetown was also ranked No. 6. The Hoyas have had success coach Brian Wiese's 13 years winning 10 games or more nine times, winning a Big East title eight times between tournaments and regular season, and going to seven of the last nine NCAA Tournaments. After a 13-5-3 campaign, Georgetown started 2019 2-0 defeating Syracuse and Temple at home. They're equipped with the Big East preseason offensive and defensive players of the year in Derek Dodson and Dylan Nealis. Nealis is also a MAC Hermann watch list member Dante Polvara came off the bench to score twice in the opening weekend, and keepers Giannis Nikopolidis and Tomas Romero each earned a start as they compete for the starting job

#4 STANFORD CARDINAL 
Stanford rolls right along winning at Penn State and #3 Akron to start 2019. UCI's 2018 season ended at the hands of Stanford in the NCAA Second Round, and now they return to Stanford for the sixth time in a series that has seen the Cardinal win nine of ten meetings. Head Coach Jeremy Gunn has built a juggernaut could by playing for his 100th win at Stanford in just his eighth season that has included three NCAA Championships. Andrew Thomas, Tanner Beason, Logan Panchot, and Zach Ryan all appear on the Preseason All-Pac-12 Team with Beason, last year's Pac-12 Player and Defender of the Year, on the watch list for the MAC Hermann Trophy