The Anteaters have split in each week now coming back after a Thursday loss at USD to defeat conference rival, CSUN, in double overtime Sunday. Another stout week takes UCI to Loyola Marymount Thursday looking for the first road win followed by another Sunday night non-conference battle with a Big West rival welcoming in Cal State Fullerton

Storylines
· Glo Hinojosa earned the win in relief Sunday coming on at halftime with the 'Eaters level at 1-1. She started in the loss at San Diego saving a career high five shots in her native of San Diego. She scored her first career win and shutout the week prior defeating Southern Utah in her fifth match. She stopped three shots in the effort.
· UCI's two wins have come in Anteater Stadium driving their streak six straight home matches unbeaten (5-0-1) including wins in each of the last three matches in Anteater Stadium.
· The Anteaters scored six goals in the 6-0 win over Southern Utah. The six goals in a match are the most since 2010, also a 6-0 victory defeating UC Davis at home.
· Six different goalscorers vs. Southern Utah included four players with their first career goals and points - Alyssa Moore, Lilli Rask, Laila El Behery, and Chloe Ragon. Seven players earned their first career point over the first two weekends including the five goal scorers and those adding assists such as Autumn Thompkins and Gianna Creighton.

6 - The 'Eaters scored 6 in their win over Southern Utah, most since 2010, also a 6-0 home win vs. UC Davis
58 - UC Irvine leads all Big West clubs over the last four seasons by amassing 58 points in Big West matches
5-0-1 - The 'Eaters are 5-0-1 in their last six home matches dating back to 2019 with the one draw coming vs. CSF
102' - Chloe Ragon scored in the 102nd minute to defeat CSUN, her second goal and game-winner of 2021
47 - During Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters in 2020-21, the 'Eaters played 47 student-athletes in the Dean's List
2 - Freshman Sophie Gillies took home 2 awards, Big West Offensive POTW and the first Big West Freshman POTW
 
This Week's Matches
· Another Thursday road match followed by Sunday night at home for the Anteaters who are searching for their first road win while going 2-0 with eight goals in two home matches.
UCI heads to LMU Thursday night  for the first meeting since a 2018 UCI home win. The sides drew in the last match at LMU in 2017. All-time, the 'Eaters have a narrow 6-5-4 edge with just one loss in six-ever trips to LMU. The Lions lost the last seven matches of their 2020 Spring campaign to finish 1-7-1. They've continued with four losses to start 2021 including road losses to Navy, Washington, and No. 11 Georgetown. The lone home match was a loss to UC Riverside as one of their three loss by just one goal. Sierra Dunphy, Skylar Robledo, and·Sydney Schultz have accounted for their three goals with Schultz making the most noise putting up seven shots with four on frame.
· Cal State Fullerton enters the week winless as well, but coming in the form of one-goal losses at San Diego and reigning champs Santa Clara along with a 3-0 home loss to UCLA. The Titans will be fresh off a trip to Texas Tech on Thursday before coming to Anteater Stadium. The programs have drawn in each of the last two meetings with CSF holding a 15-9-6 lead in the all-time series. The offense runs behind senior Haley Brown and junior Kaytlin Brinkman. Brown represented CSF on the preseason All-Big West squad along with defender Megan Day. Day's comrade on the backline, Meghan Schroh, has the team's goal.
2021 So Far
· The Anteaters remain the only program to score against UCLA so far in 2021 as freshmen Sophie Gillies and Laila El Behery teamed up to net one on the No. 5 Bruins in the season opener. Since then, UCLA has shutout fellow Big West sides Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State.
· The home opener was all UCI winning 6-0 over Southern Utah, the program's most goals in a game since 2010. Six different goalscorers were led by four 'Eaters with their first career goals led by Chloe Ragon who delivered the game-winner in the 14th minute along with El Behery, Alyssa Moore, and Lilli Rask
· The Big West Preseason Coaches Poll projects the 'Eaters to finish in a tie for third with UC Santa Barbara. It's the fourth-straight preseason poll the 'Eaters have been picked in the top four. The 'Eaters also drew four first-place votes which led all team in the poll. The 11-player Preseason All-Big West team included a pair of 'Eaters in fourth-year junior forward Scarlett Camberos and third-year sophomore midfielder Gianna Creighton.
· Returning to the roster are 18 Anteaters, 15 that have played minutes for UCI. Scoring leaders return in Scarlett Camberos who has four goals and three assists for 11 points. Alex Jaquez has a pair of goal, both game-winners, and has a pair of assists along with Amber Huff and Destinee Manzo. The 'Eaters bring in four keepers with two that have minutes in Glo Hinojosa playing 300 minutes in four matches in 2019 and Taesja Paopao who has played twice including a shutout victory over Northern Colorado.
· Joining the 19 returners are 18 newcomers. Eight joined the squad in 2020. Ten have joined the fold for 2021 including three from four-year college like Oregon, Air Force, and Nevada. Sophie Gillies shone with five goals of the team's eight in the spring season where they went 3-0-2

Student-Athlete Notes
· Among the new 'Eaters are the international flavor with freshmen Suus de Bakker from the Netherlands, national team members Aveka Singh from India and Laila El Behery of Egypt, and Gillies from England. The roster is also flushed with players connected to Canada, Mexico, Ireland, Ghana, Guam, and Thailand.
· With no soccer in 2020-21, women's soccer still pushed through placing 47 student-athletes on Fall, Winter, and Spring Dean's Lists. Fifteen different 'Eaters earned Dean's List at least two quarters and 10 were recognized all three quarters including current players Maddie Lauro, Maddy Chavez, Sarah Javorsky, Kiera Smeenge, Destinee Manzo, Alyssa Moore, Sarah Ralston, and Halli Stewart.
· Of the 29 'Eaters that have declared a major, 11 different majors are represented with the most common as Sociology with 10 members and another in Social Ecology
· Maddy Chavez leads the way in academic exploits earning scholarships over the past year in the social justice leaders category; specifically the Houts Family and Maxine E Nevin Leider scholarships. Chavez is 1 of 4 Anteaters that are currently Criminology, Law, & Society majors.
· Four Anteaters enter the year as public health policy majors. 'Eater alum, Shelby Lee, was a PHP major toward her nursing school aspirations while she was the Big West's representative at National SAAC conferences where she has spoken on panels regarding mental health and helped toward the Time Management Plan that is currently in place to help student-athletes· Among the other fields Anteaters are studying toward are three Psychological Science majors, two newcomers as Biomedical engineering majors, and other majors represented such as education, film & media studies, engineering, social ecology, and literary journalism.

Stats To Watch
· Two veterans lead the way in matches played with scoring leader Scarlett Camberos with 39 matches under her belt, 22 as a starter, and midfielder Amber Huff, playing 38 career matches. The leader in starts is Alex Jaquez starting 23 times in her 33 matches played.
· As alluded to, Camberos leads all active Anteaters with six goals scored now after her tally Sunday, and three assists for 15 points total. Overall, the team returned 50% of their goals scored in 2019. Jaquez has two career goals, both as game-winners.
· The Anteaters entered 2021 with four keepers on the roster. Two returners are Glo Hinojosa and Taesja Paopao. Hinojosa joined the roster in 2018 and began 2019 as the starting keeper seeing 300 minutes in four matches starting three times. Paopao joined in 2019 and played in two matches starting once against Northern Colorado where she shut them out for a 2-0 victory. Each keeper got a start last week with Hinojosa playing all 90 at USD in the loss, but posting a career high five saves. Paopao started Sunday vs. CSUN making all three saves in the first half, but Hinojosa took over for the remainder of the match and scored the double overtime victor despite not facing any shots on target in her 57 minutes.
· Head Coach Scott Juniper is back with his staff for his 16th year with the program, 15th year as the head coach, and 14th season of NCAA soccer. Juniper is the program's all-time winningest coach with 135 wins, three Big West titles, and a Big West-best 58 points over the last four seasons.

Fans In The Stands
· UC Irvine soccer and Anteater Stadium welcomes back 100% capacity attendance for the 2021 season. In accordance with updated public health guidance regarding COVID-19, UC Irvine Athletics events will be at full-seating capacity for the upcoming 2021-22 season. Athletics will align with the latest state guidance regarding indoor and outdoor events as well as county, city, and campus directives. Specific details regarding health and welfare protocols at specific venues and events will be announced at a later date.
· All UC Irvine home matches will be broadcasted on ESPN+ for 2021 following the new Big West deal. David Gascon will be on the call for each game, and links to watch and follow along can be found on ucirvinesports.com or @UCIwsoc social media.
· In 2019, UC Irvine women's soccer set a UCI soccer record for regular season crowd with 1,704 fans to see UCI take on No. 4 UCLA. It was the fourth-largest crowd in stadium history behind three postseason matches by the men's soccer program

'Eaters Playing Professionally
· Kiana Palacios and Janelly Farias have joined forces for Club America in Mexico's top league. The duo opened the season on July 18 each scoring a goal in the club's 2-1 win over Santos Laguna. This is Farias' second season with the club after playing previously with her hometown Chivas Guadalajara. Palacios joined this season after three with Spain's Real Sociedad. Both also play with the Mexican Senior National Team.
· Mady Solow has been playing professionally since graduating in 2013 starting in Italy and stints with the Polish National Team. She spent a season in Switzerland with FC Basel before settling back in Italy with Hellas Verona for a second season now.
· Cami Privett is stateside now in her fifth season with Houston Dash as a midfielder and defender. She first joined the club after an open tryout right after graduating from UCI in 2014. She was loaned out to a Norwegian club for 2017 and then to Spain in the same league as Palacios for 2018-19 before returning to Houston where she's stayed and made 19 appearances.
· Jessica Miclat finished up in 2019 and set off on the global scene. She had been part of the Philippines National Team since her junior year and participated in international tournaments and World Cup qualifiers. She continues to work with them, but also signed on with Danish club, Aalborg, late last season. The season for her and the club begins this August.