IRVINE, Calif.-- UC Irvine women's soccer's incoming class begins to take form for the 2024 season starting with a Notre Dame transfer in Ashley Naylor.
 
The native of Manhattan Beach, Calif. returns to Southern California after four years at the University of Notre Dame. A Mira Costa high school grad, she was instruments in their back-to-back CIF Championship game appearances, and she also competed on the club scene with LA Breakers, LA Galaxy, and Beach FC.

"I'm so excited to be coming back to Southern California and joining such a terrific program," Naylor said. "I am so thankful for Coach Juniper and the rest of the team for giving me this incredible opportunity. Congratulations again to UCI women's soccer on another historic season, and I can't wait to see what next season brings. Go Anteaters!" Naylor's admission to UC Irvine follows in her family's footsteps as her father is an alum that did his medical fellowship at UCI.

The goalkeeper played at least once in each of her four seasons earning ACC Defensive Player of the Week honors once as a sophomore. Naylor appeared in 31 matches for the Fighting Irish as a three-year starter with her best year coming as a sophomore in 2021 where she posted 10 wins, four shutouts, and 49 saves helping the program reach the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament

Naylor played over 2,600 career minutes with a goals-against-average of 1.03 and 70 career saves while accumulating a 19-7-3 record picking up 10 shutouts and appearing in four NCAA Tournament games over her career. She had three matches over her career with as many as nine saves including a career high 10 in a 2-1 victory over Wake Forest. Her most recent season she appeared in eight matches winning five times with just one defeat and eight saves.

Head Coach Scott Juniper is excited about addition Naylor and everything she brings. "Ashley is an experienced Division I goalkeeper with a pro skill set and we are very excited to have added her to the 2024 squad. She will love working with Danielle and Ludo and I'm excited for what she brings." 

Naylor will compete with current Anteater keepers Savanna Arruda, Gabby Nelms, and Laurynn Ziller for the spot opened up by Glo Hinojosa graduating after 72 career matches and three straight wildly successful campaigns helping the team to 37 wins over them with three straight Big West Championships and three straight NCAA Championship berths earning a win in each one and Sweet Sixteen appearances in each of the last two.

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