UC Irvine Starts Challenging Stretch at UCSB, Hosting Black & Blue Rivals

THIS WEEK IN ANTEATER SOCCER

UC Irvine Anteaters (4-5-3, 2-2-1) at UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (7-2-5, 2-1-2)
Harder Stadium - Santa Barbara, Calif.
Wednesday - 6:00 PM | ESPN+ | Live Stats

UC Irvine Anteaters (4-5-3, 2-2-1) vs. Long Beach State (7-2-5, 1-1-3)
Anteater Stadium - Irvine, Calif.
Saturday - 6:00 PM | ESPN+ | Live Stats | Digital Program

Promotional Schedule

Storylines

+ Fiona Shin pushed her team lead in goals and points scoring her first career brace Saturday. She now has five goals and 12 points this season.

+ Mimi Yamamoto was instrumental in the scoring last match with assists on each goal. It was the first 2-assist match since Ella Colombini did so in September of 2025. Yamamoto also had a goal called back after a VAR review Saturday.

+ Allison Rabe opened her account with an assist on the 89th-minute Shin goal. It is Rabe's first career assist and point

+ The 50-match club is an exclusive group in Anteater history home to 110 'Eaters all-time. Three more are approaching the mark with Chifumi Sasaki and Clara Samson entering the week at 47 matches and Hailey Clingan at 43

+ Anteater freshmen and debutantes have played a combined 3,556 minutes this season. Also over 3,000 is Hailey Clingan's career minutes reached during the UC Riverside match. Clingan is 1 of 4 'Eaters with over 1,000 minutes this season playing all but five. Others are Rabe, Yamamoto, and keeper Savanna Arruda

+ Anteater scoring has come on late with 13 of their 16 goals scored in the second half and that includes four goals in the match's final five minutes

+ Non-conference journey finished 2-3-2 winning and losing at home and on the road. UCI played the No. 1 ranked team, went 1-1 against the Pac-12, and a pair of draws against teams .500 or better

Last Week's Action

Big West play is five matches in for all 12 programs with UCI on seven points and tied with Cal Poly for the sixth and final postseason spot

A high-scoring affair saw five goals in the second half of a 4-2 defeat to CSUN at home. Fiona Shin drew the match to within 2-1, but CSUN responded 34 seconds later on its way to a win

Wednesday at the Gauchos

+ UCSB is 7-2-5 just drawing its second loss Saturday to Fullerton by a score of 5-0. The Gauchos are unbeaten at home too going 4-0-3

+ All-time this is the 44th meeting with UCSB up, 24-15-4. In 2025, UCI won in the regular season, but fell when they played in the postseason

+ The Gauchos have veteran keeper Maddie Buckley and her 48 saves. Eleven different Gauchos have a goal with four from Delilah Vega-Aguilar and Chayse Yu adding five assists

Saturday vs. Long Beach State

+ LBSU is also 7-2-5 and an unbeaten 3-0-3 on the road. They're behind UCI in Big West at 1-1-3 with a draw vs. Sac State and win last week vs. CBU

+ All-time UCI has not lost since 2018 with an overall 15-9-11 record in the rivalry series

+ The other team has the 12 goals and 3 GWG from Cherrie Cox and 12 points from Radisson Banks (4 G, 4 A) and Ameera White (2 G, 8 A). Keepers Aurora Schuck and Amaya Sanles have split four of the last five matches in goal

Schedule