LOS ANGELES, Calif. --- UC Irvine women's soccer pulled off one of the program's biggest wins shocking the UCLA Bruins, 1-0, Friday night at Wallis Annenberg Stadium ending their 26-match unbeaten streak and advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The match's only goal came in the 14th minute starting with
Lilli Rask setting up
Destinee Manzo whose chip fell to
Alyssa Moore heading the ball home for a 1-0 Anteater lead.
Glo Hinojosa and the UC Irvine (16-5, 8-2) defense did the rest of the work denying seven shots on target to post their fifth straight shutout, extending their shutout streak to 523:03, and advancing the 'Eaters into the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the second time in program history.
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UC Irvine is now 3-1-1 all-time in the NCAA Tournament posting its second win against a Pac-12 opponent. UCLA was a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and ranked No. 3 in the nation marking the highest-ranked opponent UCI has defeated in its history eclipsing their last win over a ranked foe in 2014 over No. 6 BYU.
"It's incredible!" exclaimed head coach
Scott Juniper after the match. "You can see from start to finish; they're warriors. It doesn't happen overnight, there's a lot of work that goes into it. I could talk to you for hours about each of their individual journeys, but all of their journeys have brought them to this point. They fight for each other, with each other, fight through mistakes, through difficult moments, and it's a pleasure to be their coach."
SETTING THE TONE
Both sides had chances out of the gate before Moore put away the third total shot of the match. UCLA (16-1-3, 8-0-3) ramped up the pressure outshooting the Anteaters 6-3 in the first half.
"I saw the opportunity to go forward and Destinee getting on the end of it, and we practice those kinds of plays all day long at practice. I was happy to be there and put my head on it, and so excited to see it go in the goal."
Alyssa Moore detailed the decisive strike for her sixth goal of the season. Coach Juniper marveled at his squad's attack building a perfectly-executed goal.
"When we did get possession, this is a team that wants to play. They're not frantic so they moved the ball, got it into a good area, Destinee's execution was very difficult, and it was a well-earned goal. Everyone is expecting us to be working for breakaways all night, but a little bit of sustained possession, excellent execution on the cross, and Alyssa, she's been magic for us."
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GLOÂ AND BEHOLD
The second half was statement for the Anteater defense behind the backline of
Kiera Smeenge,
Alex Jaquez,
Lilli Rask,
Maddy Chavez, and the cat-like netminding of
Glo Hinojosa. She stopped two shots in the first half, but the Bruins turned on the attack searching for that equalizer.
"Glo has been incredible this season. That was the highest level goalkeeping performance you're going to see," lauded head coach
Scott Juniper. "It was incredible. Her coach,
Danielle de Seriere, was our goalkeeper the last time we won an NCAA Tournament game, and she works with her and our volunteer coach Ludo Antunes for the last three years, and it's hard work over a long period of time."
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Hinojosa bounced all across goal keeping the Bruins out of the net. She posted a season and career high seven saves in the match including a nimble, leaping save in the 58th minute denying Madelyn Desiano. The Bruins continued to pepper the 'Eater backline putting up 13 of their 19 shots on the night in the second half.
The best chance of the night was also their last in the 81st minute on a blast from Lexi Wright with Hinojosa getting her fingertips on it to swat it off the post and aside to seal the 1-0 upset victory.
"I was ready for anything they shot at me," chimed in an exasperated
Glo Hinojosa after her career night. "Honestly, we just think one game at a time and we did that with this game. Now we put it behind us and focus on the next game ahead of us."
FINAL SCORE: UC IRVINE 1, [2] UCLA 0
The Anteaters advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the second time in their three tournament berths. UCI is also unbeaten in opening round NCAA Tournament matches at 2-0-1.
UCI improved to 16-5 on the season having won seven straight. The 16 wins are the second-most in program history behind the 19 won by the 2010 squad.
The win is the fourth in program history against the Bruins and first since a 3-1 overtime win in 1994. It's UCI's first win at UCLA turf, a place that the Bruins had not trailed at any point in this 2021 season on. UCI also became the first team to score first against UCLA this season and first team to hold a halftime lead against them. The Bruins had a 26-match unbeaten streak end and 12 straight without a loss at home. Coach Juniper locked in his 10th career victory over a Pac-12 squad to go with four draws, all for win No. 149 of his career.
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The teams met to open the season with a 3-1 win for UCLA. All three goals came in the first 18 minutes meaning UCI has shutout the Bruins for the last 162 minutes. The 'Eaters now have eight wins away from home and an eight-match road win streak after Friday's victory with likely another match on the road in the next round.
Hinojosa and the defense produced its fifth straight shutout lifting its shutout streak to 523:03. It's the second shutout in an NCAA Tournament match for the 'Eaters joining
Danielle de Seriere and the 2010 Anteaters that shutout Wake Forest, 2-0, in a Second Round victory.
The goal for Moore was the first game-winner of her career. She joins
Julia Gonzalez as Anteaters to do that this season in wins over Pac-12 opponents. Assists were earned by
Destinee Manzo, her fourth to tie Moore, and
Lilli Rask, her first as an Anteater.
The Anteaters represented The Big West getting the conference its first NCAA Tournament win since 2011. It's the seventh time a Big West program has won and advanced to the Second Round.
SURVIVING AND ADVANCING
Next up, a date in the Second Round with Wisconsin after the Badgers earned an at-large berth to the tournament and defeated Butler, 2-1, Friday night to improve to 9-5-6. The location, date, and start time are still to be determined following the results this weekend.
