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Big West play begins in Anteater Stadium Wednesday night with a visit from the Highlanders followed by a Saturday afternoon matchup with the Hornets
Storylines
· Anteater keepers have put up some numbers catching people's attention.
Gordon Botterill has shutout opponents for the last 266 minutes, and leads the conference with a .838 save percentage, a 0.88 goals-against-average, and one save off the lead with 31.
Luke Pruter scored his first win at USD and saved nine shots in his first career start. He followed that up with 13 saves in a loss at Stanford for the second-highest single-game total in program history. Pruter averages a save every 8:40 of his career so far with 25 saves over four matches.
· 'Eaters have two award winners in 2021 with
Kelvin Neumetzler, scoring twice against Dixie State, and
Gordon Botterill posting 193 minutes of shutout soccer, for the first Big West Player of the Week honors for each in their careers. The 'Eaters have missed their pair of Preseason All-Big West players for a majority of 2021 in
Eddy Berumen and
Oscar Cervantes.
· UCI starts the week against UC Riverside with former head coach Chris Volk as an assistant for the Highlanders. Volk spent 20 seasons at UC Irvine, three as a head coach.
· The Anteaters begin Big West play with a 2-6-1 record. UCI was picked to finish third in the conference, and open at home against the program picked for seventh, UC Riverside, Wednesday night. UCI heads on the road to finish the week up to Sacramento State Saturday afternoon, a program picked to finish sixth in the conference.
· UC Irvine has had 11 players make their collegiate debuts including freshman starter
Mathias Winum, off the bench with
Francesco Montanile,
Victor Sandsmark-Evensen, and
Josh Kenworthy, Anteater redshirts
Oscar Delgado,
Mario Anaya, and
Rafael Espinoza, and Barragan-Manzo as a JC transfer. Four-year transfers making Anteater debuts include Botterill, fellow starter
Ryan Khedoo, and off the bench
Ashish Chattha.
Jake Means has come on late in the last four matches making his collegiate debut vs. UCLA. Sunday's win vs. Dixie State featured two collegiate debuts on freshmen
Roman Warren along with
Luke Pruter in goal. Pruter came back for his first career start Wednesday night winning with nine saves at USD.
· Anteaters have made big strides in the professional ranks recently starting with Daniel Crisostomo whose made six appearances with LAFC starting the last three and putting up an 85% success rate on his passes vs. Portland.
Roberto Molina also made his debut with the El Salvador national team in a friendly, and started in another friendly last Friday vs. Guatemala.
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6 -Â The 2021 schedule includes
6 programs that have reached the NCAA Tournament in the last two years
8:40 -Â
Luke Pruter has 25 saves in 217 career minutes for a rate of a save every
8 minutes,
40 seconds of gameplay
5 -Â UCI's
5 goals vs. Dixie State match the most in a match under coach Raz, largest margin of victory since 2010
#1 -Â Coach Raz's 2019 recruiting class was ranked #1 in the nation with two now playing pro and six on the 2021 roster
6.22 -Â Anteater keepers average
6.22 saves per match in 2021 ranking fourth in the NCAA
13 -Â
Luke Pruter's 13 saves at Stanford are the second-most in program history, 4th UCI game with 13+ saves
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This Week's Matches
· The Highlanders have started strong at 5-3 through non-conference play. UCR began 2021 with three road wins at Niagara, Canisius, and USD. They've also picked up wins over Dixie State and USF with the three losses all coming by one goal to Cal Baptist, LMU, and at UCLA. UCR was Big West champs in 2018 before struggling in 2019. Through eight matches, UCR has yet to be shutout, have scored multiple goals six times, and their last five matches have featured goals from both sides. The veteran group of seniors - Issa Badawiya, Roberto Garcia-Vargas, Leopoldo Hernandez, and Jonick Pineda - have all scored multiple goals joined by freshman Adrian Meade-Tatum with three goals as well. The Highlanders are atop the conference in shots and shots on goal per game and offside calls. Sophomore keeper Carlos Gonzalez has posted a pair of shutouts and stopped 25 shots on the year in net.
· Sacramento State enters Big West play with a 2-6-1 record like UCI with two road wins at SJSU and Pacific. Sac State has just three home matches with one goal in those, and now play Cal Poly at home to start conference play before UCI comes to town. The Hornets put up just 3.7 shots on goal per match and 38% on target. Sophomore Michael Gonzalez has three goals to lead the squad joined by Oscar Govea with two goals, two assists, and a team-high in shots. Six different Hornets have a goal along with eight players posting multiple points. Junior Ryan Curtis has made all nine starts stopping 36 shots in net.
2021 To This Point
· UCI's first two weekly awards came as
Kelvin Neumetzler's two-goal game garnered Big West Offensive Player of the Week notoriety and keeper
Gordon Botterill scored a shutout and his first win as an 'Eater in a draw with Omaha and win over Dixie State stopping three shots in total to be named Big West Defensive Player of the Week on September 13
· The 'Eaters began the season going 0-4-1 with one goal scored. Those four losses including three on the road, three by one goal, and two against ranked squads.
· UCI's five-goal match matches the most goals scored under head coach
Yossi Raz tying with the first win over coach Raz's UCI career in 2017 at Northern Kentucky, 5-2. The five goals at home and five-goal margin of victory are the first since the same match in 2010 defeating Cal State Fullerton, 7-2.
· The Big West revealed its Preseason Coaches Poll and All-Big West Preseason squad last week. The 'Eaters are projected to finish third behind UCSB and UC Davis who are tied for first. The 'Eaters received one first-place vote and were one of six programs of the 10 in The Big West that earned a vote. The 11-player All-Big West Preseason squad featured a pair of Anteaters for the third straight season. Sophomores
Eddy Berumen and
Oscar Cervantes represented after each finished 2019 as members of the Big West All-Freshman Team.
· Returning to the roster are 13 Anteaters, 10 that have played minutes for UCI. Scoring leaders return including
Michael Orozco with three goals and eight points.
Lawrence Yamaguchi and
Oscar Cervantes each bring six career points scoring twice and adding two assists. Joining the 13 returners are 14 newcomers; seven joined the squad in 2020 for the season that never happened, and seven more joined the fold for 2021 with three four-year transfers from Fairfield, Kansas City, and San Francisco. UCI lost seven from the 2020 roster including four signing pro contracts.
· Head Coach
Yossi Raz returns for his fifth year with the program and fourth Division I soccer season. Raz is 26-21-12 in his three seasons at the helm without any losing seasons including a Big West title and trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2018.
Student-Athlete Notes
 · Among the new 'Eaters is some international flavor including a pair of freshmen from Norway in
Victor Sandsmark-Evensen and
Mathias Winum, four-year transfers in
Gordon Botterill, originally from Switzerland, and
Ryan Khedoo, originally from Canada while also recently playing with the Guyana National Team.
Francesco Montanile crossed stateliness from Arizona, and
Luke Pruter grew up in Ireland. 'Eaters also have international ties to Mexico, India, Hong Kong, Japan, and Germany.
· With no soccer in 2020-21, men's soccer still pushed through graduating five Anteaters, and 16 'Eaters made Dean's List between Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters.
Eddy Berumen and
Kelvin Neumetzler were Anteaters that appeared on all three quarters of Dean's List in 2020-21. Three return of the seven that were Big West All-Academic in 2019 including Berumen,
Beto Alvarenga, and
Lawrence Yamaguchi.
· Of the 22 'Eaters that have declared a major, 12 different majors are represented with the most common as Business Economics and Sociology / Social Ecology with six members each.
· The pair of grad transfers to the program will each be working towards their grad school degrees during the season.
Gordon Botterill begins the highly-acclaimed Master's in Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Ryan Khedoo is pursuing DASA, or the Master's in Demographic and Social Analysis
· A pair of Anteaters are currently double majors in
Lawrence Yamaguchi for International Studies and Sociology while
Kelvin Neumetzler is in Psychology and Business Economics.
· Among the other fields Anteaters are studying toward are three Criminology, Law, & Society majors, two International Studies, two Business Administration, and solos in Education, Public Health Science, and Computer Game Science.
Stats To Watch
· After one goal in the first five matches and a string of 384 minutes scoreless, the 'Eaters erupted for 10 goals in a three-match span. Eight different Anteaters found the back of the net including three goals from
Kelvin Neumetzler and two from
Oscar Delgado, and four different Anteaters scoring their first-career goals in 2021 in
Juan Barragan-Manzo,
Christian Bond-Flasza,
Jake Means, and
Kwabena Boateng. Other first-timers including first career points on assists for
Josh Kenworthy and
Victor Sandsmark-Evensen.
Ashish Chattha recorded his first goal and assist as an Anteater over a pair of matches.
· Two veterans lead the way in matches played with fifth-year forward
Lawrence Yamaguchi at 59 matches starting 24 while scoring leader
Michael Orozco has started 45 times of the 48 matches he's appeared in. Others include
Beto Alvarenga - eight starts in 39 caps,
Axel Adler -
34 caps with six starts, and seven starts in 29 career appearances for
Christian Bond-Flasza.
· The 'Eaters lose quite a bit including 20 of their 27 goals scored from 2019. Cervantes and Orozco each scored two of the seven returning goals. Orozco and Boateng also return to the back line that loses two center backs.
· Entering the 2019 season, coach Raz's recruiting class was ranked No. 1 in the nation by Top Drawer Soccer. From that class, two players are currently on pro sides -
Roberto Molina at Las Vegas Lights FC and Jorge Hernandez with L.A. Galaxy II - and those remaining in
Eddy Berumen,
Kwabena Boateng,
Mario Anaya,
Rafael Espinoza,
Ricardo Ibarra, and
Oscar Cervantes.
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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. The first match vs. UCLA brought in 858 fans, the fourth-largest crowd during coach Raz's tenure.
· All home soccer matches in 2021 will be broadcasted on ESPN+ following the Big West's new deal. Play-by-play broadcaster David Gascon will have all the action for fans.
· Joining coach Raz on the sideline is a reformed coaching staff led by
Cale Rodriguez as top assistant coach.
Yonha Adrabi has elevated from volunteer goalkeeper coach to assistant. Joining as the new volunteer assistant is
Kostas Kyriazis and director of operations
Gemar Lezeau, both coming from the New York Red Bulls coaching ranks.
'Eaters Playing Professionally
· UC Irvine men's soccer alums currently account for 16 'Eaters playing professionally across five countries. The United States holds the largest contingent of Anteaters still playing.
Alvaro Quezada was drafted in early 2021 by LAFC and signed with them. He is currently being loaned to Las Vegas Lights FC alongside fellow 'Eaters Daniel Crisostomo and
Roberto Molina for the USL Championship side. On Wednesday, August 6, LAFC added Crisostomo to the club signing him. Later that evening in LAFC's match vs. Sporting KC, he was on the bench alongside Quezada before Quezada heard his named called for his first MLS minutes entering in the 68th minute and finishing out the match nearly collecting an assist in his debut. Quezada becomes the seventh Anteater all-time to record minutes with and MLS club. Crisostomo later became the eighth Anteater to play in an MLS game entering for LAFC in the 81st minute August 15 at Atlanta United FC.
· Molina earned a call-up to the El Salvadorian National Team last month playing in a friendly against Costa Rica hoping for an invite to the World Cup Qualifiers in September. Other 'Eaters on national teams have been Lester Hayes III playing for the Puerto Rico national team in World Cup Qualifier wins over Bahamas and Puerto Rico. Miguel Ibarra also spent time with the U.S. national team entering in three friendlies. Brad Evans also played in 21 caps adding a goal in a WCQ vs. Jamaica.
· The USL Championship level is home to eight Anteaters including the three in Las Vegas. Cameron Iwasa continues his run with Sacramento Republic FC which will make the jump to MLS soon. Elsewhere is Thomas Janjigian with Hartford Athletic, Tarek Morad at Oakland Roots, Ford Parker at Birmingham Legion FC, and long-time MLS pro Miguel Ibarra at San Diego Loyal FC.
· Below the USL Championship is USL League One containing a pair of 'Eaters with Victor Falck in his second season with Richmond Kickers and 2020 grad
Luca Mastrantonio with FC Tucson. Within the NISA league stands two more 'Eaters with Giovanni Ramos-Godoy at Stumptown AC and Los Angeles Force's
Seamus McLaughlin.
· Four Anteaters are thriving globally starting with the most successful in Lester Hayes III. He's found himself in Denmark with new club Dalum FC. He took part in Gold Cup qualifiers with Puerto Rico scoring once in his two matches. Prior to that, he spent three years in Spain with two different ninth-tier clubs as one of their top goalscorers. Darren Hamilton continues his career back in England now with Whitley Bay FC of England's ninth tier. Making his way with Latvia's Super Nova is long-time forward Renato Torquato. Former keeper Bryan Tian Keat See, who spent one season with the 'Eaters, is on his third club in southeast Asia now with Pulum Pinang in Malaysia.
