Anteaters Draw 1-1 in Home Finale

Sunday, October 26

Irvine, Calif.

1:00 PM

UC Irvine

7-4-7, 4-2-3

UC San Diego

4-6-8, 2-3-4

Team	1	2	Final F
UC San Diego	0	1	1
UC Irvine	1	0	1

chifumi-sasaki-uci-wsoc-2025-washington-ucsandiego

Photo by: Matt Brown

Anteaters Draw 1-1 in Home Finale

October 26, 2025 | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Alex Roberts-Croteau

IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine women's soccer let an early lead slip finishing in a 1-1 tie Sunday afternoon with UC San Diego in Anteater Stadium.

Ella-Vated

The Anteaters were off to the races to start the match dominating possession and quickly putting up a score
- Chifumi Sasaki and Fiona Shin play well up the midfield feeding a through ball to Ella Colombini who drove and finished inside the left post to make it a 1-0 lead in the sixth minute
UCI kept the pressure on as part of the 69% possession they held in the opening half
- Mia Colombini ripped a shot from the left wing that needed a diving grab to keep out in the 21st minute
- Fiona Shin had a ball land at year feet in the six-yard box, but her shot went right into the keeper denying her in the 29th minute
UC Irvine took a 7-2 shot advantage into the half along with the lead

Shifting Sands

UCI started the second half with more of the same with the first three shots of the half including saved opportunities by Suus de Bakker and Ella Colombini
The Tritons flipped the script starting in the 65th minute
- With UCSD needing to avoid to defeat to save their season, they got a very timely bounce on a shot from Allie Luo that was blocked but right to Ava Tibor sitting near the left post who slid a goal in to tie things at 1-1
From that point, the Tritons became the aggressors including recording the next five shots over a 10-minute span
Savanna Arruda and her backline made three saves in the match, and none bigger than in the 82nd minute smothering a close-range UCSD shot
UCI's best chance in the second half came in the 79th minute as Ariane Haysman Boaler found some space on the left side of the 18-yard box and punched a shot that was just tipped over the goal by UCSD to keep things level

UC Irvine 1, UC San Diego 1

The draw gives UCI a point and with it lots of postseason implications
- The Anteaters still have not locked up a spot in the Big West Championship and will have to wait for results later Sunday to see if they've clinched anything heading into the final week
- Without a win and with other results in the morning, UCI cannot reach the top spot for a share of the Big West title like they did when the day began
- UCI can still finish as high as third place and are still well within the top four spots where they could host a Big West Championship match
In this game, Ella Colombini provided UCI's goal, her second of the season and first ever in Anteater Stadium
Assists were provided by Fiona Shin and Chifumi Sasaki, each collecting their third on the season
Savanna Arruda was back in net making two saves as she now has three ties in three starts this year. Her defense also was rewarded with a team save
On the stat sheet, UCI did lead in shots, 13-11, and corners, 6-4, while committing just four of the 11 total fouls and did not pick up a caution

The regular season for UCI and the Big West ends with the Anteaters' match at Hawai'i on Thursday, October 30 with kickoff at 9:00 p.m. PT with a lot still in play.

UCI GOAL!! ? Chifumi up to Fiona who leads Ella (6') into a perfect run and shot

UC Irvine 1-0 UC San Diego #TWZ pic.twitter.com/gfaoarNlnv
— UCI Women's Soccer (@UCIwsoc) October 26, 2025