28 -Â 28 Anteaters received some kind of academic honor in 2021-22 with 19 returning to the team in 2022
4 -Â Glo Hinojosa now has
4 shutouts in
4 Big West Championship matches; she also needs
4 saves to crack the UCI top 10
5 -Â Alyssa Moore has
5 career game-winners all coming on her last
5 goals (2021 vs. UCLA, 2022 vs. Cal, CSUN, UH, & UCD
50 -Â Four 'Eaters hit
50 career matches in 2022 -
Destinee Manzo,
Maddy Chavez,
Gianna Creighton, and
Lilli Rask
7th -Â UCI heads to the final for a
7th time in its 13th tourney appearance and third time in back-to-back finals (96-97 & 10-11)
6 -Â Amber Huff has assisted on UCI's last
6 goals including three vs. Hawai'i and game-winners vs. CSF and UC Davis
Â
· UC Irvine defeated the host Cal State Fullerton Sunday in the Big West First Round match in overtime, 2-0.
Glo Hinojosa came up big with a penalty save in the 65th minute to keep things scoreless and send it to overtime. In the extra periods, UCI scored off corners by
Suus de Bakker in the 95th minute and
Destinee Manzo to in the 102nd minute. Thursday's semifinal again went to overtime with another
Amber Huff corner finding
Alyssa Moore for a 107th minute winner to down 2-seed UC Davis sending UC Irvine to the Big West Final for a second straight year.
·Â
Amber Huff matched a program record with three assists in Thursday's win over Hawai'i. It's the fourth time an Anteater has done it and first since Tanya Taylor in 2010. She then added two assists from corners on the two goals in Sunday's win and against assisting the game-winner vs. UC Davis. She's set up six consecutive UCI goals, seven total on the season, and is the team's active career leader with 12
· UC Irvine's active leaders begin with
Alyssa Moore with 10 career goals.
Amber Huff leads all 'Eaters with 12 career assists. More shares the game-winning goal lead with
Desiree Mendoza with five each. Games played features two players with over 70 matches played in Huff and
Alex Jaquez, and three other players hit 50 matches this year being
Gianna Creighton,
Maddy Chavez, and
Destinee Manzo making a grand total of 92 Anteaters in program history with 50 or more matches.
·Â
Alyssa Moore collected the game-winner Thursday, the fifth of her career all coming on her last five goals (2021 at UCLA, 2022 vs. Cal, CSUN, Hawai'i, and UCD)
·Â
Glo Hinojosa enters the Final among the program's goalkeeper leaders. Her career 0.92 GAA is third at UCI, sixth with 25 wins, fourth with 19 shutouts, the fourth-best .651 win percentage, and 143 career saves needing four to crack the program's top-10 including picking up her second career PK save on Sunday.
· UCI reached the Big West Tournament for 13th time in 21 all-time tournaments. Under head coach
Scott Juniper, UCI is making its 11th trip and is the defending champion winning their second title along with the 1997 squad. UCI has a 9-10-2 record in the tournament and is seeking its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance.
· The 2022 field finishes in San Luis Obispo. After winning the First Round matchups, UC Irvine and Long Beach State took down the top two seeds, UC Davis and host Cal Poly, in the semifinals to set up the Big West Final Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
· Sunday's final matches up the 'Eaters and Beach for the fourth time in the Big West Tournament. The three previous meetings all came in the final and were all LBSU victories. UCI and LBSU drew 1-1 at UCI earlier this year as the 'Eaters scored in the 36th minute before LBSU equalized the Black & Blue Rivalry in the 66th
