WEEKLY MATCHUPS

UC Irvine Anteaters (0-0, 0-0 Big West) at Grand Canyon Lopes (0-0, 0-0 Mountain West)
GCU Stadium (6,000) - Phoenix, Ariz.
Thursday - 7:00 PM | Mountain West Network | Live Stats 

UC Irvine Anteaters (0-0, 0-0 Big West) at Arizona Wildcats (0-0, 0-0 Big XII)
Murphey Field at Mulcahy Stadium (1,462) - Tucson, Ariz.
Sunday - 10:30 AM | ESPN+ | Live Stats

Match Notes

COUNTER ATTACKS
2 - 2 Anteaters begin the season back in their home state - Trinity Morales (Tucson) and Amelia Sitton (Chandler)
104 - 104 'Eaters have played 50+ matches for UCI including three current Anteaters
 (de Bakker, Crowder, Perez)

THROW-INS
118:41 - UCI's keeper trio has a total of 118:41 minutes played between Laurynn Ziller, Savanna Arruda, and Kamilah Jones
5,003 - 2024 Freshmen played 5,003 minutes as a collective between 7 players in 45 starts scoring 2 goals, 1 GWG, and 5 assists

SET PIECES
8 - Big West coaches projected UCI to finish third this year. UCI has been projected top 4 for 8 straight preseason polls
11th - The Anteater coaching staff of Scott Juniper, P.J. Woolridge, and Danielle de Seriere are together for their 11th season

· The Preseason Big West Coaches Poll was announced last week with the 'Eaters projected to finish third in the 11-team Big West. UCI garnered one first-place vote as did Long Beach State (1), UC Santa Barbara (3), and projected champion Hawai'i (6). UCI is projected top-4 in the preseason poll for an eighth consecutive time.
· In addition to the poll, the Preseason All-Big West Team was announced with Mihaela Perez the lone UCI representative. She joins past defenders like Maddy Chavez and Kiera Smeenge to earn the preseason honor. Perez is in her fifth year with UCI having logged 59 career matches, and was named one of the team captains for 2025. This is her first Big West honor of any kind
· Anteater freshmen played a total of 5,003 minutes in 2024 with seven different 'Eaters to seeing minutes. On the stat sheet, the crew logged two goals, a game-winner, and five assists for nine points. Those freshmen all return including the team's only returning award winner, Ivy Williams, who was named to the 2024 Big West All-Freshman Team
· Team captains for 2025 hail from the defensive side with defensive mid Williams and backline veterans Perez and Suus de Bakker who returns from injury for a fifth season
· UCI's attack scored 19 goals in 19 matches a year ago and return just four of those goals from veterans Perez and Mia Colombini along with second-years Milan Heisdorf and Clara Samson
· Goalkeeping for the Anteaters is an open competition led by two fourth-year netminders Savanna Arruda and Laurynn Ziller. Each have bided their time with Arruda seeing action in three matches in 2023 and Ziller coming on in relief twice in 2024 behind Ashley Naylor. Freshman Kamilah Jones completes the goalkeeper room
· UC Irvine's incoming class features 10 'Eaters with high potential, eight true freshmen, and a pair of Power-4 transfers primed to step in:
Þ Trinity Morales is one entering as a grad transfer after seven points in 45 matches over three seasons with the Oregon Ducks. The Phoenix native is earning her masters in professional accountancy and looks to anchor the midfield
Þ Ariane Haysman Boaler also joins from Oregon and is just a sophomore originally from the Bay Area. She scored once in 17 matches as a freshman, and is ready to power the UCI attack

Thursday at the Lopes
· GCU is coming off a fourth straight year with 11+ wins with two NCAA Tournaments in that span. They're projected to finish fifth in the Mountain West, and returner AJ Loera and newcomers Ellie Johannes and Neve Renwick were conference players to watch
· The 41st season in UCI soccer history opens with a first-ever meeting between UCI and GCU. UCI has won three straight season openers, and all-time look to even their 18-19-3 record.

Sunday at the Wildcats
· Arizona welcomes UCI back for the seventh all-time meeting and fifth in Tucson. The Wildcats lead all-time, 4-1-1, including a 3-0 win at UCI last year. UCI's lone win in the series came on the road back in 2009.
· The Wildcats enter 2025 after 11 wins in 2024 in their first run in the Big XII. They return a host of contributors including Olivia Ramey who pitched a shutout last year and 1 of the 3 goal scorers, Rose Calkins. UofA won in an exhibition, 1-0, last week vs. Northern Arizona.