IRVINE, Calif.. --- UC Irvine women's soccer again reached great heights with a 10-8-6 record, Big West title, and turning the soccer world on its head with another NCAA upset for the books and a second straight trip to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen in 2023.

1st - UCI is just the 2nd team to beat a No. 1-seed in the first round, but is now the 1st to do it and reach the Sweet Sixteen
31 - Glo Hinojosa recorded 31 career shutouts tying the program record with assistant coach Danielle de Seriere
6-4-2 - This is UCI's 5th trip to the NCAAs with an all-time record now of 6-4-2 including 4-0-1 in the First Round all-time
3 - The Anteaters took home a Big West 3-peat, the third in Big West history going 7-0-1 in championship matches
87 - Fifth-year midfielder Gianna Creighton finishes her career as the program's all-time leader with 87 matches and starts
15:31 - The 'Eaters played down a player for the final 15:31 at UCLA and managed to score the game-winner in the 87th minute
#20 - The Anteaters finish ranked #20 in the final United Soccer Coaches rankings, a second year in a row finishing ranked and 3rd time in program history


 
· Awards have started to be handed out with five All-Big West - first-teamers Tati Fung, Kiera Smeenge, and Alyssa Moore, Glo Hinojosa with the second team, and honorable mention for Gianna Creighton. Mihaela Perez joining Moore, Hinojosa, and Smeenge on National Teams of the Week in the postseason. Academic All-District was also announced with six Anteaters on the list - Creighton, Smeenge, Moore, Lilli Rask, Suus de Bakker, and Sophie Gillies. All-West Region awards were announced with Glo Hinojosa and Alyssa Moore honored. Hinojosa earns her third All-West Region award while Moore claims the first of her career
· Glo Hinojosa leads one of the stingier defenses in the Big West finishing her UCI career with 37 wins, 233 saves, and 31 shutouts to tie her with assistant coach Danielle de Seriere for the UCI record over 72 matches. Hinojosa made five penalty kick saves all-time with three in shootouts.
· UC Irvine's offense put home 29 goals including four in a 3:20-span at Bakersfield. They featured the Big West assist leader, Tati Fung, with nine, and eight different 'Eaters put home a game-winning goal including Lilli Rask rewarded with her first career game-winning goal vs. Gonzaga in her 65th match and two from second-year Mirayah Villalpando.
· Gianna Creighton has played over 7,500 minutes in her career missing a total of three minutes in 2023. She cemented her spot atop the Anteater record books as the all-time leader in matches played and starts with 87 of each
· UCI's longevity was on display in 2023 as 12 Anteaters reached 50 career matches played. Alyssa Moore led the team in scoring again with 19 points and seven goals. She finishes her Anteater career with 19 goals, six game-winners, and 47 points. Fung's nine assists helped her to second with 13 points, and close behind were Emilie Castagna's 11 points (4 G, 3 A), and 10 from Desiree Mendoza (3 G, 4 A), nine by Laila El Behery (4 G, 1 A), and Erin Covey's eight (3 G, 2 A).
· The 'Eaters finish at 10-8-6 with head coach Scott Juniper collecting his 170th career win in the NCAAs. Juniper has 16 seasons under his belt with the Anteaters earning 12 winning seasons, ten 10-win campaigns, seven combined Big West regular season and championship titles, five NCAA Championship berths, and now six tournament wins reaching three Sweet Sixteens
· The Anteaters did the unthinkable and upset UCLA again in the NCAA First Round, 1-0, thanks to an 87th-minute winner by Alyssa Moore set up by former Bruin Aislynn Crowder's set piece. Glo Hinojosa shone with five saves for her third NCAA shutout, and all this was with UCI down to 10 women after a 75th-minute red card.
· UC Irvine became the second team to ever upset a 1-seed in the NCAA First Round joining USC who did it to Santa Clara in 2006, and this UC Irvine team is the only one to ever reach the Sweet Sixteen after upsetting a 1-seed in the First Round of the NCAA Championship
· UC Irvine finds another gear in the NCAA Tournament now 4-0-1 all-time in the First Round with wins over UCLA as a 16-seed and 15-seed, win over USC as a 13-seed, and a 2010 win vs. Arizona State. Coach Juniper's program is 6-4-2 including two at-large berths, three Sweet Sixteen trips, and 4-3-1 away from home
· The Anteaters are dynamite in the Big West over the last three years unbeaten in the Championship at 7-0-1 claiming the conference's third three-peat all-time doing it the last two years away from home as a 5-seed in 2023 and 6-seed in 2022, the first two seasons that the Big West moved from four qualifiers to six, and all without allowing a goal. Joining her predecessors Glo Hinojosa and Maddy Chavez as Big West Championship MVP was Emilie Castagna in 2023 for UC Irvine