COUNTER ATTACKS
270 - Saturday marked the first
Anteater hat trick in 270 matches (Spencer Thompson vs. AFA - 9/12/2010)
27 & 14 - UCI's attack put up 27 shots and 14 shots on goal vs. UTU, the most in the Big West this year and most for UCI since 2018

THROW-INS
4.0 - Alex Shields has 24 saves through his first six matches, 4.0 per match, including 8 vs. #17 UCF and a PK at South Florida
3rd - Agaton Pourshahidi scored his 3rd career Big West weekly award - first Offensive POTW to go with two Freshman POTWs

SET PIECES
#1 - Mario Anaya remains from coach Raz's #1-ranked recruiting class of 2019 with 7 of those class members gone on to play pro
1st - UC Irvine was picked 1st in the Preseason Big West Coaches' Poll with All-Big West honorees Winum, Montanile, and Pruter

 
· Agaton Pourshahidi recorded a hat trick in Saturday's win over Utah Tech giving him five goals on the season, second-most in the Big West, and nine career goals to lead all active Anteaters.
Þ The last hat trick for UC Irvine was by Spencer Thompson in 2010
Þ His hat trick is 1 of 2 from Big West players this year, the other by Cal State Fullerton's Erick Serrano also came against Utah Tech
Þ Pourshahidi earned Big West Offensive Player of the Week for his performance, the first of his career to go with a pair of Freshman of the Week honors from 2022. He joins Marcus Lee as award winners this year that he earned week two of the season
· Francesco Montanile and Samuel Atiye each had two-assist matches on Saturday. Montanile now has three assists this season, tied for second in the Big West.
· The Anteater attack fires 48.2% of their shots on target ranking second in the conference and 32nd nationally. UCI's 5.86 shots on goal per match is also second in the Big West.
Þ The 'Eaters fired 27 shots and 14 shots on goal Saturday, both Big West highs so far in 2024.
Þ The 27 shots are the most for a Big West school against a Division I opponent since 2022.
Þ It's the most for UC Irvine in a match since shooting 27 times vs. Cal Poly in 2018
· UC Irvine is among the least cautioned drawing 17 yellows, second-least in the Big West, and the least amount of fouls per match at 10.57

Saturday vs. Aztecs
· UC Irvine and San Diego State meet for the 24th time in their histories on Saturday. SDSU holds a 13-6-4 all-time edge. It's just the second meeting in the last decade with UCI 3-2-2 since the year 2000 and they are unbeaten (2-0-2) in the last four matches in Anteater Stadium dating back to 1996.
· The last meeting came in 2018, a match that UCI led by the fourth minute and had in hand until an equalizer in the 85th minute and an overtime winner in the 92nd for San Diego State. The Anteater goal that day was from Alvaro Quezada with an assist by Ivan Canales
· The 2024 squad is 3-3-2. They have some common opponents to the Anteaters like Mercyhurst (W, 2-1), Vermont (L, 0-1), San Diego (L, 0-3), and Oregon State (L, 1-4) while also going 2-0-1 against Big West foes UC Riverside (W, 5-2), Sac State (W, 1-0), and most recently against UC Davis (T, 3-3) in Snapdragon Stadium. Their matches have been some high-scoring affairs with 28 total goals over eight matches, nearly four total tallies per match. Most of them have come from the trio of Austin Brummett (4 G), Terence Okoeguale (3 G, 3 A), and Robbie Matei (3 G, 1 A) while Eddy Vargas (2-1-1, 0.93) and Djibril Doumbia (1-2-1, 2.96) have split duties in goal
· There's a familiar face on the Aztec sideline in assistant coach Carlos Aguilar. In 2008 and 2009 with the Anteaters, he reached the program's first two NCAA Tournaments and added Big West Championship MVP hardware. Since, he's coached at UC Irvine (2011-14) to six years at Cal State Fullerton, and now the last five seasons for San Diego State