COUNTER ATTACKS
7 - Marcus Lee was named Big West Freshman of the Week; UCI has claimed the honor 7 times since its 2021 inception
3 - Of UCI's 5 goals in 2024, 3 have been the first of a player's career - Marcus Lee, Misael Gonzalez, and Justin Conyers

THROW-INS
1st - UC Irvine was picked 1st in the Preseason Big West Coaches' Poll with All-Big West honorees Winum, Montanile, and Pruter
1-1-1 - The 'Eaters see 3 opponents among the preseason rankings. UCI was 1-1-1 against ranked foes in the 2023 regular season

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
7th - UC Irvine reached the NCAA Tournament for the 7th time, second under coach Raz and all program trips made since 2008

 
· UC Irvine went unbeaten last week with a draw against Vermont who was receiving national votes, 1-1, and a 3-1 win over Mercyhurst. The 'Eaters enter the United Soccer Coaches Far West regional rankings this week sitting No. 8
· Marcus Lee took home Big West Freshman of the Week honors after scoring his first career goal on Thursday's draw. UCI has won the award seven times in the four years since its inception with current Anteaters Nolan DiCenzo, Agaton Pourshahidi, and Brady Treinen also recipients
· UC Irvine's attack showed up with four goals. Alongside Lee were first career goals and points to third-year Justin Conyers scoring Sunday's game-winning goal, and junior transfer Misael Gonzalez scoring the third and final goal in his first Division I match. Elsewhere, Isaiahs Gutierrez and Danny de Lorijn added their first career points on assists during the week.
· Alex Shields was thrust into the starting goalkeeper role for his first career minutes in his third year after an injury to Luke Pruter. Shields sprawled for multiple impressive saves Thursday in a draw against the Catamounts, and hauled in his first career victory on Sunday. In all, he registered six saves in net.
· A number of Anteaters opened their accounts last week in terms of points and minutes. In all, nine Anteaters have made their collegiate debuts with five doing so last week with Gonzalez and Shields along with second-years Braden Ferreira and Isaac Nixon and freshman Darwin Lopez. Isaiah Quarcoo, who spent two years at Tulsa and transferred to UCI in 2023 got his first minutes for the 'Eaters Sunday.
· Nolan DiCenzo will return to the lineup after a red card last Thursday from two cautions. It was the program's first red card since 2021. Thursday also happened to be the junior defender's birthday.

Friday at the Knights
· UC Irvine and UCF meet for the third time with the series even 1-1. UCI took down ranked UCF in the first meeting at Orlando, 1-0, in overtime back in 2018. Most recently, the Knights won on UCI's turf, 3-2, in 2022
· The 2022 match was overshadowed by hurricane conditions in Anteater Stadium. The atmosphere made for plentiful offense as the 'Eaters leveled things twice, once in the 32nd minute and again thanks to Samuel Atiye in the 54th minute, before UCF put home the winner in the 77th. Four Knights from that match return - Emmanuel Bam, Anderson Rosa, Lucca Dourado who scored twice, and keeper Juanvi Munoz. UCI has eight players including five starters back from that match.
· The Knights are spotless so far jumping around the rankings to No. 17 this week and a 1-0-2 record. Five different goalscorers have converted their five goals, and two keepers in net have made nine stops. Their three matches have seen both sides score in each of them as well.

Monday at the Bulls
· UC Irvine and South Florida finish the weekend on Monday in their second-ever meeting. UCI and USF were each top 12 when they met in 2011, and the Bulls won 2-0 to drop UCI to 7-1 on the season in the match at Tampa; a match in which nine future USF MLS draft picks played including their two goalscorers - Dom Dwyer and Wesley Charpie, and both sides went deep in the NCAA Tournament that season with the 'Eaters reaching the Sweet Sixteen for a second time while South Florida advanced to the Elite Eight.
· The Bulls stumbled to open the year losing 4-1 to No. 23 Seattle U, but are unbeaten since with draws against Mercer and UNCW and a win over Eckerd., and they'll play FGCU Friday. Lovro Kostanjsek has two of their four goals and an assist while leading in shot attempts. Preseason All-AAC notables included Jalen Anderson whose scored once and assisted once and top-tier defender Pedro Faife with five shots of his own from defense.