· The Big West Preseason Coaches Poll came out August 10 with the Anteaters projected to finish third. UCI has been projected first or third in each of the last five seasons. The 'Eaters received three first-place votes. LBSU was projected first and received two, Cal Poly received four and is projected to finish second, and Cal State Fullerton (4th) and UC Santa Barbara (6th) each received single first-place votes.
· The Preseason All-Big West Coaches' Team of 11 players had the most from UC Irvine with three.
Gianna Creighton received her second selection along with 2021,
Glo Hinojosa is the second keeper to be named joining Maddie Newsom, and
Alyssa Moore rounds out the trio, the second time three Anteaters have been selected joining the 2019 team.
· UC Irvine begins the 2023 season receiving votes in the United Soccer Coaches national rankings. With 14 preseason votes, UCI sits two shy of joining the top 25.
· UC Irvine finished the 2022 season ranked No. 18 according to United Soccer Coaches. It's just the second time in program history UCI finished the season ranked joining the 2010 squad that was No. 14.
· The Anteaters got their first taste of the rankings in 2022 earning two votes in the United Soccer Coaches weekly poll after the opening week, their first votes since 2011. Another publication, College Soccer News, put UCI at No. 30 in their weekly poll of the top 30. In addition,
Alyssa Moore was featured on their National Team of the Week.
Thursday vs. the Gaels
· UCI opens with Saint Mary's Thursday looking to build off last season's win to open the year over Cal. The programs last met in 2016, a 2-0 win for the 'Eaters, but UCI has just two wins in 12 matches against them all-time.
· After a 5-6-7 season that included wins over Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara and a draw with Pepperdine, Saint Mary's is here with a team full of new faces and some key returners like sophomore Tessa Salvestrin (3 goals, 6 assists), grad senior Emily Jensen (5 goals, 2 assists), and senior keeper Taylor Poland (6 shutouts in 18 matches).
Saturday vs. the Cardinal
· Saturday at 6:00 p.m. marks the second time Stanford will visit Anteater Stadium with the other coming in a scoreless draw back in 1988. The sides have faced off just two other times at Stanford's place with the Cardinal winning each of those 2-0, once in 2006 and most recently in 2011 against a roster that featured 11 future women's soccer pros on it
· Stanford begins the year No. 11 after a 17-2-3 record in 2022. The Cardinal were the Pac-12 champs at 9-1-1, but didn't last as long in the NCAA Tournament falling in penalty kicks in the second round to BYU. They still enter 2023 with a 12-match unbeaten streak and lots of returning firepower including the defensive pair of National Freshman of the Year Elise Evans and Kennedy Wesley named on the United Soccer Coaches watch list, All-American Maya Doms, and four other All-Pac-12 honorees from a year ago.
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Five Things to Know About the 2023 Anteaters
· The Anteaters followed up a monumental 2021 season with an even better 2022 campaign. The 'Eaters took advantage of the first season with six Big West Tournament berths and rode that to a second straight Big West title and automatic NCAA berth. UCI upset a ranked Pac-12 school in the first round for a second straight year downing USC, 2-0, and following that up by advancing to the Sweet Sixteen for a second time in program history after besting Brown University of a penalty shootout, 1-1 (4-2), and 1 of the last 2 unseeded schools in the tourney.
· The UC Irvine firepower returns with eight starters back from last year. One is keeper
Glo Hinojosa, one of the team's two All-West Region honorees, and along with her are four other All-Big West honorees -
Alyssa Moore,
Gianna Creighton,
Kiera Smeenge, and
Emilie Castagna - none of which were on the First Team.
· With a heavy arsenal of returners, only four new faces don the Anteater roster. The only experienced member is grad transfer
Madison Goerlinger who logged over 5,000 minutes in 70 career matches along with 13 points primarily in the defensive third for the University of Arizona as she returns to her native of Southern California. Another addition is
Alana Odom who remains at UC Irvine after a freshman year on UCI's cross country, indoor track, and track & field rosters where she ran the 60m, 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay. Just two freshmen join the squad with a pair of versatile Californians in
Kori Pickelle from the Bay Area and San Diego-bred
Kelsey Swyney ready to lock in with the veteran group along with a multitude of second-years and redshirts looking to carve out their spot
· The coaching staff is raring to go headed by
Scott Juniper for his 17th year and 16th season. He claimed his 150th and 160th career victories in 2022 with both coming at the hand of Pac-12 opponents. His staff remains intact with assistants
P.J. Woolridge and
Danielle de Seriere on for a ninth year as a unit and a fourth season with goalkeeper assistant Ludo Antunes.
· The Anteaters have assembled one of it's most impressive schedules to date. Highlighting the ledger are visits from the reigning national champs UCLA in late August as well as a second all-time visit by Stanford for the team's first two Sunday matchups. Two other NCAA Tournament opponents dot the schedule as UCI travels to play San Jose State and Portland, and on UCI's trip to Oregon they tangle with a third Pac-12 foe in Oregon State. The Big West slate is competitive as always with five home matches that includes the full gamut of UC schools as well as the defending regular season champions, Cal Poly.
Student-Athlete Notes
· Academic standing was evident throughout 2022-23 with Anteaters picking up 45 Dean's List honors, 11 Big West Fall All-Academic nods, 24 UC Irvine Scholar-Athletes, and 23 named to the Big West Commissioner's Honor Roll led by 11 'Eaters that earned each distinction -
Ella Colombini,
Mia Colombini,
Gianna Creighton,
Suus de Bakker,
Sophie Gillies,
Alyssa Moore,
Lilli Rask,
Kiera Smeenge,
Halli Stewart,
Autumn Thompkins, and
Laurynn Ziller.
· Twelve different majors are represented among the 30 'Eaters who have declared, with the most common being Business Economics and Criminology, Law, & Society with five members each. Three majors have declared in Public Health Policy and Biomedical Engineering majors, two each in Public Health Science, Biology, Education, Psychology, and Sociology, and finishing with a solo major of Business Administration.
· Four Graduate Students fill out the roster with
Lilli Rask staying on for a fifth year in the Master's of Innovation and Entrepreneurship program, and newcomer
Madison Goerlinger joining and studying in the Teaching English as a Foreign Language program.
Gianna Creighton and
Glo Hinojosa also join graduate programs as part of the campus's new certificate program studying public health policy and criminology, law, and society, respectively.
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Alyssa Moore returns for a fifth year at UC Irvine while holding the bar for women's soccer as the President of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee following Sam Nieto and Shelby Lee as the last three SAAC presidents.
· UC Irvine women's soccer is well-represented globally with five foreign players on the roster. Two English nationals represent in senior
Sophie Gillies and second-year forward
Emilie Castagna. Others that have joined the program from other countries are the trio of third-year Anteaters
Laila El Behery from Egypt,
Suus de Bakker from the Netherlands, and
Aveka Singh from India.
· The Anteaters' history of success with players of Mexican descent continues with today's roster. Student-athletes like
Desiree Mendoza and
Mirayah Villalpando are of Mexican descent on the roster. Second-year
Niko Hadzibabic brings her unique blend of Serbian and Ecuadorian heritage as well
· The 'Eaters are fueled by their Hawaiian representation with the dynamic duo of
Tati Fung and
Aislynn Crowder on the pitch who each were born and raised in Hawai'i. Fung came stateside when she was 10 to Fullerton and joined the 'Eaters after one season at the University of Texas. Crowder came from the islands to attend UCLA her first two seasons before coming to UC Irvine in 2022.
· Nine Anteaters made their collegiate debuts in 2022. Nine Anteaters have made their first collegiate appearance this season in
Mirayah Villalpando,
Emilie Castagna,
Alyssa Wheeler,
Niko Hadzibabic,
Halli Stewart,
Gracie Haley,
Jenika Davis,
Ella Colombini, and
Mia Colombini. A number recorded their first career points including Ella, Davis, and Castagna. Other Anteater debuts have been made by
Tati Fung and
Aislynn Crowder with each adding their first points in an Anteater uniform to this point.
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Madison Goerlinger returns to Southern California for her grad transfer season. The Orange-native spent four successful seasons at the University of Arizona scoring four goals and adding five assists in 70 matches starting 62 of them in the defensive third. She joins the group of high-profile transfers in recent years for UC I from Arizona, Oregon, Texas, and UCLA.
Anteater Numbers
· The Anteaters claimed the win in their season opener over Cal, 1-0 much like their 2021 upset. Anteater Stadium popped off with 2,187 fans in attendance for the season opener. That marks the second crowd of over 2,000 fans in UCI soccer history, 27th crowd of over 1,000 fans, and the crowd mark a women's soccer record surpassing the 1,704 fans in 2018 and the rebreaks the UCI soccer regular season record.
The 'Eaters are 13-20-3 all-time in season openers winning last year's vs. Pac-12 opponent Cal. The 'Eaters have won their last two matches against Pac-12 schools including the win over Cal in 2021. Coach Juniper and
· the 'Eaters now have 10 wins and four draws against the conference in his 15 seasons at UC Irvine
· Head Coach
Scott Juniper is back with his staff for his 17th year at UC Irvine and 16th at the helm. Juniper is the program's all-time winningest head coach with 160 wins including his 150th last year vs. Cal, four Big West regular season titles, and claimed his second Big West Tournament title in 2022. His teams have produced a Big West-leading 96 points (28-12-12) in conference play since 2016.
· Coach Juniper's support staff of
P.J. Woolridge and
Danielle de Seriere return for their ninth season as a unit, second-longest tenured in California (Santa Clara). Altogether, the trio is 76-64-23 with the Anteaters.
· Sixth-year Anteater
Glo Hinojosa is joined in the department by one of her siblings. Hinojosa is the oldest of six children in her family as the only sister to five younger brothers. One of her step brothers, Ricky Tibbett, is a grad transfer to UC Irvine in 2023-24 joining the baseball team from San Diego State.
'Eaters Playing Professionally
· Eskilstuna United—Jessica Miclat - the Anteater alum is with her third professional club having played seven matches in Denmark with AaB in 2021 and prior to that scored five goals in 15 matches for Aris Limassol in Cyprus. Miclat had been training with the Philippines National Team since helping them qualify for the 2023 Women's World Cup last year, but was not included in the final roster for the competition. Miclat has continued her play now in Sweden with Eskilstuna United
· Club America—Kiana Palacios - the striker continues to shine with Club America helping them to a league title in the most recent season. She's scored 33 goals in 62 appearances for the club coming off a successful run in Spain with Real Sociedad scoring 17 times in 74 matches over three years and scoring the club's first cup title winning the Copa de la Reina. She also continues to impact with the national team with 29 caps to her name scoring nine times including four this year and posting past goals against squads like Nigeria, in a 1-0 win, Costa Rica, three goals in two comps vs. Jamaica, and her first international goal in 2018 to give Mexico the 2-1 lead in a friendly vs. the United States
· Pachuca FC—Janelly Farias - the media sensation has made her name as an activist, reality show participant, and host and analyst for world cup coverage, but she continues to excel in LigaMX with her third club now. After three seasons with Chivas and five with Club American alongside Palacios and Camberos, she's manning the backline for Pachuca FC
· Club America—
Destinee Manzo - the 2023 graduate signed last month with Club America to play alongside Palacios, Manzo has played in a handful of matches in the new 2023-24 season
· Angel City FC—Scarlett Camberos - after two seasons, 41 matches, and 18 goals with Club America in Mexico, Camberos joined Angel City FC of the NWSL this Spring. She's played in 12 matches so far with the club.
· Pinzgau Saalfelden—
Amber Huff - shortly after the season's end, Huff joined FC Pinzgau Saalfelden of the Salzburger Frauenliga in Denmark where the club currently sits in second place
· Egypt under-20 National Team—
Laila El Behery - played in u20 Women's World Cup qualifying with the Egyptian under-20 National Team in 2021 falling 4-2 in aggregate of their tie with the Republic of Congo.
