COUNTER ATTACKS
2nd - The 'Eaters earned their 2nd Big West weekly honor of 2024 (Heisdorf) thanks to Emilie Castagna's 2nd career OPOTW
5 - UCI's 5 wins have all come with a goal in the first half; the team is also unbeaten
(4-0-2) when scoring in the 2nd half
 
THROW-INS
2 - UCI has 2 Big West awards this season - Emilie Castagna's 2nd career Offensive POTW & Milan Heisdorf Freshman POTW
80+ - Three 'Eaters have logged over 80 career matches - Lawson Willis (88), Kiera Smeenge (81), and Desiree Mendoza (80)

SET PIECES
13 - The Anteaters enter Thursday with 13 Big West points in 6th place with the ability to clinch a berth with a win, draw, or loss
5 - UCI's 5 wins have all come with a goal in the first half; the team is also unbeaten
(4-0-2) when scoring in the 2nd half

 
· The Anteaters drew in their only match last week 0-0 with Long Beach State in their home regular season finale. UCI is alone in sixth in the Big West with 13 points at 3-2-4 and overall at 5-6-6.
· Emilie Castagna is coming off Big West Offensive Player of the Week honors two weeks ago. She scored three goals including her first career game-winner in matches vs. Cal State Fullerton and at UC Davis, but accrued her fifth yellow card leading her to miss Sunday's match vs. Long Beach State
· Anteater freshmen have been called upon to play 4,519 minutes through 17 matches. Starting lineups have seen freshmen on 41 occasions spread out among the seven different 'Eaters to see minutes. On the stat sheet, the crew has logged two goals, a game-winner, and five assists.
· UC Irvine has been hit by injuries to key veteran players. Senior defender Suus de Bakker has been out since August with a leg injury, and midfielder Aislynn Crowder was lost to a leg injury at Cal Poly. Fifth-year Kiera Smeenge had a 26-match played streak snapped after an injury vs. Bakersfield
· Anteater milestones continue to fall in 2024:
Þ Kiera Smeenge and Desiree Mendoza have each reached 70 career starts this season making it 19 'Eaters all-time with 70+, and are the 12th and 13th Anteaters with 80 career matches played
Þ Overall, 104 'Eaters all-time have played 50 matches for UCI with Emilie Castagna, Aislynn Crowder, and Mihaela Perez joining that club in the 2024 season
Þ Lawson Willis' played her 88th collegiate match Sunday, and her first full 90 in an Anteater uniform
Þ Eight different Anteaters have now played over 3,000 minutes for their careers led by Kiera Smeenge now over 6,000 minutes, and she'll start her 78th match Wednesday to tie Tanya Taylor and Simone Ferrara for sixth in program history

Thursday at the Highlanders
· UC Irvine and UC Riverside meet to close out the regular season. It will be the 24th meeting of which UCI has won 17 of the previous meetings with four to UC Riverside and two draws. UCI is 4-0-1 in the last five matchups and are 7-2-1 in games at UC Riverside on their artificial turf surface.
· The 2023 matchup was a 2-0 UCI win in the middle of conference season. An Aislynn Crowder penalty right before the half gave UCI the lead, and Alyssa Moore had the dagger in the 62nd minute in a match UCI dominated 16-2 in shots and earning five of the six corners.
· The Highlanders have four Big West points all on draws and a 2-12-4 overall record. They've been shutout in 11 of their 12 losses while scoring eight of their nine goals this year in their results including ties vs. UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Bakersfield. The home field advantage has shown through with four of those results and unbeaten in their last three. Allee Grashoff has been in net for all the wins and draws stopping 89 shots while the offense has come from Marieke ten Brink (2 G) and freshman Mimi Dominguez (3 G)

Breaking Down the Big West
· Final matchday of the regular season is upon us with most of the Big West in action. Hawai'i has sewn up the regular season title, their first, and will host the semis and final. Also clinched are UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara with three spots open and five teams still in the mix.
· UC Irvine's chances can be as simple as clinching a berth with a win. The highest UCI can finish is fourth place and hosting a first round match, but would need a draw between Cal State Bakersfield and Cal State Fullerton.
· UCI also has a path in with a draw or loss on Thursday. The other matches the 'Eaters will have an eye on begin with CSUN at UC Davis earlier Thursday. A CSUN loss or tie helps clinch if UCI loses or draws as is a LBSU loss to tie at Hawai'i, and both must happen if UCI loses. A Cal State Fullerton loss to Cal State Bakersfield would be enough for a clinch should UCI draw on Thursday.