UC Irvine Hosts CSUN, at Cal State Bakersfield as Big West Plays On

THIS WEEK IN ANTEATER SOCCER

UC Irvine Anteaters (5-5-1, 1-1) vs. CSUN Matadors (4-4-2, 0-0-1)
Anteater Stadium - Irvine, Calif.
Wednesday - 6:00 PM | ESPN+ | Live Stats | Digital Program

UC Irvine Anteaters (5-5-1, 1-1) at Cal State Bakersfield (3-2-4, 0-0-2)
Main Soccer Field - Bakersfield, Calif.
Saturday - 7:00 PM | ESPN+ | Live Stats

Promotional Schedule

Storylines

+ UC Irvine earned three points in the Big West opening week putting them in a tie for second place. Two matches down with four remaining and 12 possible points available

+ Gage Lyons knocked in his third career brace, second with the 'Eaters. It was his third game-winning goal this season, sixth-most nationally. He's up to 20 goals, eight game-winners, and 44 points in his collegiate career

+ Goalkeeping has been a near-even split between Joe O'Shaughnessy and Scott Williams who have split the 26 total saves. Williams has the team's three shutouts, and his 0.833 goals-against-average leads the Big West.

+ Isaac Powell played his 70th career match Saturday joining Brady Treinen who's now up to 72. Gage Lyons is up to 64 between UCI and Army West Point. Isaiahs Gutierrez registered two assists in his 50th career match Saturday

+ UCI has been prodigious in earning corner kicks with 6.09 per match good for tops in the Big West and 34th in the country that includes 13 earned in their match against UNLV.

+ A pair of Anteaters got firsts over the last week. James Arteaga's penalty vs. Cal State Fullerton was his first career goal. Cade Williams assisted on the final goal, his first career assist and point

+ Braces have come in bunches with Lyons' on Saturday joining Ferran Duran at UC San Diego and Zac Smuck at UC Riverside

Big West Opening Week

+ Utah Valley welcomed UCI in while just outside the national rankings. Two second half goals for UVU evened the all-time series at 2-2

+ Cal State Fullerton came to Anteater Stadium for a spirited affair scoring the early goal followed by a UCI red card in the 26th minute. CSF saw red in the 40th and 80th minutes allowing UCI to comeback with a 48th-minute penalty and two go-ahead goals in the final 10 minutes of play

Wednesday vs. the Matadors

+ CSUN enters with a 4-4-2 record and 0-0-1 in Big West play. Non-conference results include a loss at UNLV and 3-1 win at Pacific

+ All-time CSUN has a 28-25-6 edge in the series. UCI won, 1-0, last year as coach Raz is 4-6 with the Anteaters against his alma mater

+ The Matadors have 18 goals tied with UCI for most in the Big West with four each for Kayvon Monfared and Enrique Pineda. Bryan Castaneda has been pressed into keeper duty with a shutout and seven saves

Saturday at the Roadrunners

+ Cal State Bakersfield is 3-2-4 drawing 2-2 in their two Big West matches. CSUB plays UCSB Wednesday, and has a 1-1 draw at UCLA

+ All-time UCI leads 8-2-1 and 5-1 at home, but gave up a 90th-minute equalizer at CSUB in 2025

+ The Roadrunners have 14 goals; four, two GWG, and 26 shots from Oshea Foster in his 800 minutes

Schedule