THROW-INS
11th - The 'Eaters qualified for the Big West Championship for the 11th time and four times in coach Raz's five seasons
9th - UCI's 2022 non-conference strength of schedule was the 9th-toughest nationally including four teams with national votes
216:54 - The Anteaters had a 216:54 shutout streak down the end of the season with all three shutouts vs. Big West opponents
 #1 - Coach Raz's 2019 recruiting class was ranked #1 in the nation with four on the 2023 roster and two now playing pro
14.11 - UCI turned it on in Big West play in 2022 with 12 of their 20 goals and leading the Big West with 14.11 shots per game
71 - Anteater keepers snatched 71 saves, second-most in the Big West, with Luke Pruter posting 3 shutouts in Big West play
 
 

Clear Bag Policy
Only clear bags permitted with maximum size 12" x 12" x 6"
Foldable chairs, blankets, and other items for seating are still permitted

Concessions
Concessions available at the stadium. Outside food or drink, other than a water bottle, are not permitted

Parking
Permits are $13 and enforced at all times. Hourly permits ($2 per hour) and ParkbyPlate (Code: SPORTS@UCI) are also available to purchase ahead of time

 

· The Big West Conference announced their preseason coaches poll Thursday with the Anteaters slotted to finish fourth, a fourth straight top-four selection in the preseason poll. The Anteaters also received one of the 11 first-place votes. UC Santa Barbara earned three and the first place projection, four went to defending champs UC Riverside who were picked second, and projected third was CSUN who garnered the final two first-place votes
· The Preseason All-Big West squad featured two Anteaters in Francesco Montanile and Eddy Berumen. It's the second time for each student-athlete with Berumen earning the nod in 2021 and Montanile just last year.
· UCI played three preseason exhibitions. Starting at San Diego State where the sides played to a scoreless first half, but the 'Eaters missed an opportunity with a penalty kick saved in the 21st minute. SDSU would score on a 50th-minute PK and doubled it in the 87th minute. UCI would draw one back with an 88th-minute Noah Clarkson goal. Tuesday, UC Irvine hosted Mt. San Antonio College playing 110 minutes with the Mounties. UCI would score the lone goal turned home by Nolan DiCenzo off a corner kick in the 44th minute. Again UCI would finish their exhibition slate with a 1-0 win scoring in the 38th minute at LMU in a heated contest..
Thursday vs. the Rebels
· UCI opens the season with a familiar face and UNLV in Anteater Stadium marking the 26th all-time meeting between them. UCI had won the last four meetings before UNLV took the 2021 meeting at the death. UNLV returns just one player from that match while six 'Eaters return including goal scorer Ricardo Ibarra
· The Rebels are looking to rebound off a 1-9-7 season a year ago. After scoring 15 total goals, the Rebels returns five of them led by three from Gabe Sanchez, a Cal State Fullerton transfer, and keeper Andrew Sway who made 14 starts last season
Sunday vs. the Bluejays
· UCI welcomes a 2022 College Cup program in the eighth-ranked Creighton Bluejays. CU went 13-5-6 a year ago with a very potent offense that was not shutout once and scored multiple goals in each of their final 12 matches. It's the first time they've made it to Irvine as the sides met three times in Omaha coming every four years with UCI winning once.
· Creighton is picked to top the Midwest Division of the BIG EAST. A pair of midfielders don the preseason All-BIG EAST Team in Jackson Castro and Giorgio Probo. In three exhibitions, they've won 4-0 vs. Northern Illinois, lost 1-0 to Drake, and defeated Missouri State 2-1, and they begin the season battling at No. 7 Stanford Thursday night.
 
Five Things to Watch for 2023 Men's Soccer
· The Anteaters continue its consistent ride with four straight top-three finishes in the Big West and an appearance in the Big West semifinal or final in three of the last four tournaments.
· The Anteaters return a strong core of players with a large contingent of fifth-year veterans at the helm like Eddy Berumen, Mario Anaya, Ricardo Ibarra, Oscar Cervantes, and Rafael Espinoza who boast four All-Big West honors, six goals, and 25 assists between them
· The 2022 freshman class delivered with the likes of Agaton Pourshahidi and Diego Otoya each making All-Big West and accounting for seven goals. Nolan DiCenzo played a critical role on the backline down the season's stretch run and scoring a game-winner. With Otoya off to a professional career, Pourshahidi and DiCenzo remain with three Big West Freshman of the Week honors between them from a year ago
· UC Irvine's goalkeeping corps enter the year as some of the best in the Big West. Luke Pruter has been tested with 92 career saves including 13 in a match and four career shutouts. Cody Aung stepped up huge with a win in his first career appearance last season. Together with a solid veteran backline of DiCenzo, Ibarra, Berumen, Josh Kenworthy, and Mathias Winum, the Anteater defense is poised for a resurgent campaign
· Once again, coach Raz has put together a challenging schedule for 2023. The Anteaters will see a lot of action in Anteater Stadium including the season opener at home for the first time since 2014. The season's second match features a Creighton squad that reached the College Cup in 2022 that return a pair of All-Big East honorees. The rest of the schedule includes multiple recent participants in the NCAA Tournament and big names Stanford and UCLA both headed to Anteater Stadium

Student-Athlete Notes
· UC Irvine is represented internationally with players from Norway, Sweden, and Germany as their home countries. Samuel Atiye grew up in Germany but his family Togolese and he will visit the country often. Junior keeper Luke Pruter was born in Kilkenny, Ireland and has dual citizenship with Ireland and the U.S.
· The 'Eaters are also joined by a pair of out-of-staters with the addition of Isaiah Quarcoo who is a native of Colorado and transferred to the program from the University of Tulsa after two seasons there. Francesco Montanile returns for his junior season as a native of Arizona.
· In addition to the transfer of Quarcoo, UCI adds a pair of transfers from the Pac-12:
Þ Christian Gomez is originally from Anaheim but played his last four seasons at UC Berkeley where he put up seven points in 38 matches while attaining his degree in global studies. He joins the Anteaters to study business administration and join his mother who also attended UC Irvine.
Þ The other transfer joins from UCLA in Mauricio Gutierrez. He has yet to make his collegiate debut following two seasons as a Bruin. The Lawndale-native is a dual national between the U.S. and Mexico and was ranked as the No. 1 midfielder and No. 6 player overall in Southern California according to TopDrawerSoccer.com
· Academic standing was evident throughout 2022-23 with Anteaters honored on the Dean's List 27 times, eight Big West Fall All-Academic nods, 16 UCI Scholar-Athletes, and 14 named to the Big West Commissioner's Honor Roll led by Mario Anaya, Ricardo Ibarra, Agaton Pourshahidi, and Justin Conyers all earning highest honors
· Two notable awards were given to Justin Conyers and Agaton Pourshahidi. Conyers was named the men's soccer Scholar-Athlete of the Year as a freshman business administration major. Fellow freshman Pourshahidi took home International Scholar-Athlete of the Year joining the program from Sweden while as a computer science major
· Of the 21 'Eaters that have declared, 13 different majors are represented with the most common being Business Economics at five members.
· Other fields UCI men's soccer players are studying toward are four under sociology, two criminology, law, & society majors, and solo majors in aerospace engineering, social ecology, earth system science, education, political science, English, business administration, computer science, and international studies.

Anteater Numbers
· Career stat leaders entering the 2023 season fall mainly on Ricardo Ibarra who is approaching 4,000 career minutes. His next match will be his 60th while starting 44 times. His nine assists lead all Anteaters. Ibarra is one point behind Francesco Montanile's 14 over his career to lead the program. Jake Means has each of them beat with a UCI-best five career goals to his name along with 62 shots and 23 shots on target. Leading active Anteaters with two game-winning goals apiece are Montanile and Oscar Cervantes.
· Luke Pruter holds a majority of the stats for keepers with 25 career matches under his belt amassing seven wins, two draws, and four clean sheets. He's eight away from 100 career saves and would need 49 this season to breach the program's all-time top ten list.
· Entering the 2019 season, coach Raz's recruiting class was ranked No. 1 in the nation by Top Drawer Soccer. From that class, three players are currently on pro sides - Roberto Molina at Indy Eleven, Jorge Hernandez with San Antonio FC, and Kwabena Boateng for Gold Star Detroit - and five are still 'Eaters in Eddy Berumen, Mario Anaya, Rafael Espinoza, Ricardo Ibarra, and Oscar Cervantes.
· Head Coach Yossi Raz is in his sixth year with the program and fifth of competition (2020 season was canceled). Raz is 40-41-18 in his five seasons at the helm. His teams have won two Big West regular-season titles (2018, 2021) and made a trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2018.
· UC Irvine men's soccer begins its 39th season. All-time, UCI is 21-12-5 in its season opener and will start the season at home for the seventh time in the last eight seasons.

'Eaters Playing Professionally
· LAFC—Danny Crisostomo: Crisostomo is firmly entrenched with the MLS side starting in regular season, MLS Next Pro, CONCACAF Champions League, and U.S. Open Cup matches even earning an assist in the latter
· Charlotte Independence—Miguel Ibarra: the U.S. pro soccer legend is in for his 13th professional season and second with Charlotte. He's put home three goals in 25 matches now with 34 career goals across three U.S. divisions, Mexico's top league, and a handful of matches with the U.S. National Team
· Sporting Cristal—Diego Otoya: after one successful campaign as an Anteater, Otoya signed pro in his home country of Peru's first division where he became the youngest scorer in the club's history. He's also seen time with the Peru under-20 National Team and trained with the senior squad
· Oakland Roots SC—Tarek Morad: the stout defender enters his 10th season in professional soccer and third year in Oakland. He scored his first with the club in June giving him five pro goals in nearly 200 matches
· Orange County SC—Ashish Chattha: making his debut in pro soccer this spring, Chattha has gelled with OCSC starting a majority of the matches with some brilliant assists to his name already
· Middelfart—Lester Hayes III: the Maryland-native has taken to international waters playing in two clubs in Spain, joining Puerto Rico's national team in the Gold Cup, and now in Denmark's third division, Middelfart Boldklub, for his second Danish side
· Queen of the South FC—Gordon Botterill: Anteater grad returned across the pond and caught on in Scotland's third division last year, and he's back for 2023 as the club's starting keeper
· New Mexico United—Ford Parker: the New Mexico native is back with his hometown squad for a second season. In 2022, he earned wins in all three matches he started including securing a clean sheet
· Union Omaha—Luca Mastrantonio: joining with the USL League One side for his first season, Mastrantonio is a fixture on the backline. He finished with four goals in 48 matches in two seasons at FC Tucson
· Indy Eleven—Roberto Molina: after a few seasons with Las Vegas Lights FC, the striker joined Indy Eleven midway through the season and opened his scoring account in his second match
· Central Valley Fuego—Victor Falck: Falck continues to carve out a consistent career now with Central Valley Fuego for a second year having played in every match this season after six goals in 2022
· Chattanooga FC—Beto Alvarenga: after two seasons with local Cal United Strikers at the Great Park, Alvarenga has flourished with the NISA's top side Chattanooga FC putting home a pair of goals and multiple assists
· San Antonio FC—Jorge Hernandez: his brief career as an Anteater has started him on an odyssey playing in war-torn Ukraine to a short stint in Belgium's top league, and now back to the USL Championship joining defending champs San Antonio FC with a brace under his belt already since signing in April
· Michigan Stars FC—Robert Mejia: after his grad season, Mejia jumped on with Michigan Stars FC of the NISA where he's played one match to this point
· Gold Star FC Detroit—Kwabena Boateng: the four-year Anteater signed up in the NISA in Michigan and has jumped right into their backline putting up a number of clean sheets already