Nov. 16, 2009
ANTEATERS EARN NO. 16 SEED IN NCAA TOURNAMENT; HOST STANFORD SUNDAY: The UC Irvine men’s soccer team (15-6) earned the No. 16 seed in the 2009 NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Championship. The Anteaters will receive a bye during the first round and will host Stanford Sunday in the second round at 6:00 p.m. at Anteater Stadium. Stanford defeated Saint Mary’s 3-0 Thursday in the first round.
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS: The Cardinal are 11-5-2 on the year. Bobby Warshaw leads Stanford in points on the year. Keeper John Moore has a 0.90 goals against average and eight shutouts this season. Stanford leads the all-time series between the two schools 6-0 with the last meeting coming in 2004.
ANTEATERS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: This is UCI’s second ever NCAA Tournament appearance after reaching the Round of 16 in 2008. UCI was the No. 14 national seed and received a first round bye before hosting Big West rival Cal Poly in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in front of the first and only sell out crowd at Anteater Stadium (2,500). UCI beat Cal Poly 3-0 to advance to face No. 3 seed St. John’s in Queens, N.Y. in the Round of 16. UCI lost 3-2 at St. John’s to end their tournament run.
’EATERS VS. 2009 NCAA TOURNAMENT TEAMS: The Anteaters have played five schools in the 2009 NCAA Tournament field, a total of seven times, this season and have a 4-3 record in those matches. UCI defeated New Mexico, Princeton, Sacramento State and UC Santa Barbara during the season and lost to Saint Mary’s and twice to UCSB.
BIG WEST TOURNAMENT IN REVIEW: The ‘Eaters defeated Cal Poly 2-1 Wednesday night in double overtime and then won 4-1 at No. 4 UC Santa Barbara in the Big West Tournament Championship match. Carlos Aguilar scored three goals on the week to earn Big West Tournament MVP honors. Senior Irving Garcia (San Luis, Ariz./Yavapai College), junior Gray Bailey (Huntington Beach HS) and junior Spencer Thompson (Ahwatukee, Ariz./Mountain Pointe HS) each scored goals in the championship match. Sophomore keeper Andrew Fontein (Las Vegas/Sierra Vista HS) had eight saves in the tournament.
UCI’S BIG WEST TOURNAMENT HISTORY: The ‘Eaters have won the first two Big West Tournaments ever, having won the inaugural title in 2008 and winning again this season. UCI beat UC Davis 1-0 in the semifinals and UCSB 4-2 in the championship match in 2008 and won 2-1 at Cal Poly in double overtime in the semifinals and 4-1 at UCSB in the title match. Andrew Fontein was named Tournament MVP in 2008 and Carlos Aguilar won the 2009 honor.
AGUILAR STEPS UP: Carlos Aguilar was named Big West Tournament MVP following his three goals and an assist over the two match tournament. He was named to the College Soccer News National Team of the Week and to the TopDrawerSoccer Team of the Week after the Big West Tournament. He earlier was named to the TopDrawerSoccer Team of the Week after his five point performance against Cal Poly and UC Davis. Aguilar had game-winning assists in both matches and tied the match against Cal Poly with a goal of his own. Aguilar scored both UCI goals in UCI’s 2-1 double overtime victory at Cal Poly in the Big West Tournament semifinals.
HONORS ROLL IN FOR GARCIA: Senior Irving Garcia earned TopDrawerSoccer Team of the Week honors for the second week in a row following his two goals and an assist in UCI’s home match against UC Riverside. He was named TopDrawerSoccer Men’s College Player of the Week as well as being named to their Team of the Week, the Soccer America Team of the Week, the College Soccer News National Team of the Week and Big West Player of the Week following a seven point week at New Mexico and Cal State Northridge.
He was named to Soccer America’s Preseason All-America second team heading into the 2009 season. Garcia had scored at least a point in eight straight matches earlier this year going back to the 2008 season. Garcia was named one of the 2009 Players to Watch in the Big West by Goal.com.
FREIGHT TRAIN GETS ROLLING: Junior Spencer “Freight Train” Thompson was named to the TopDrawerSoccer.com Men’s College Team of the Week earlier this season following a three point performance against Sacramento State. He now has seven goals and four assists on the year.
WALKER HEATS UP: Junior Amani Walker (San Diego/Francis Parker HS) started the 2009 season where he left off in 2008. Walker’s nine goals this season have earned him national attention. He was named to the College Soccer News National Team of the Week as well as the Soccer America Men’s Team of the Week. He has twice been named Big West Player of the Week this season. His three goals and one assist performance at Cal State Fullerton tied the UCI single match record for goals and points (7).
CAPTAIN SANTORA: Senior Kevin Santora (Los Altos/Bellarmine College Prep) is in his second season as a UCI captain. He holds the UCI record for most career games played, with 83 entering the NCAA Tournament. He will tie the UCI career starts record of 79 when he starts UCI’s first match of the NCAA Tournament. As a defender, Santora has scored three goals and five assists this season for 11 points to be fifth on the team in scoring.
ROAD WARRIORS: The Anteaters are 9-1 on the road this season, with their lone road loss coming in their Big West opener at UC Santa Barbara, a 1-0 loss September 27th. UCI has outscored opponents 22-8 in matches on the road. UCI has now won at least one match at every stadium they have played at this season following UCI’s win at UCSB in the Big West Tournament championship.
QUICK STRIKES: The ‘Eaters have taken a 1-0 lead in the first 10 minutes seven times this season and have gone on to win each of those seven matches. Most recently, UCI scored in the second minute of the Big West semifinal at Cal Poly and in the 10th minute in the Big West Tournament championship at UC Santa Barbara.
ALL-TOURNAMENT HONORS ADD UP: UCI played in three in-season tournaments this season, earning multiple honors. UCI won the UCI College Classic and took third at both the Marquette Invitational and the Nike Aztec Soccer Classic. Irving Garcia was named to the All-Tournament team in all three tournaments. Juniors Corey Attaway (Chino HS), Spencer Thompson and Amani Walker each were named to two All-Tournament teams. Senior Carlos Aguilar, Andrew Fontein and freshman Jonathan Prieto (La Habra HS) each picked up one honor.
IN THE RANKINGS: The ‘Eaters are ranked 11th in the current Soccer America poll and 20th in the current College Soccer News poll. UCI has been ranked has high as eighth nationally in the Soccer America poll, 13th in the College Soccer News poll, ninth in the NSCAA/adidas poll and 11th in the SoccerTimes poll. UCI is currently ranked sixth in the most recent Far West region by the NSCAA/adidas regional poll.
ANTEATER LEADERS: Irving Garcia leads the team with 25 points on eight goals and nine assists. Amani Walker is second with 21 points with nine goals and three assists. Carlos Aguilar is third with 19 points. Spencer Thompson is fourth with 18 points. Keeper Andrew Fontein has 34 saves, a 0.87 goals against average, an assist and four shutouts on the year. Victor Chinchilla has 39 saves, a 1.29 goals against average and two shutouts.
ANTEATER RECORD BOOK: Spencer Thompson is tied for ninth all-time with 19 career goals, is ninth all-time in total points with 49, is tied for 15th with 11 assists and tied for fourth all-time at UCI with seven career game-winners. Irving Garcia is tied for seventh in game-winners with six, tied for sixth in assists with 18, is 10th with 48 points and is tied for 15th with 15 career goals. Amani Walker is tied for 13th with 16 career goals, is tied for 13th with 41 career points and is tied for 12th with four game-winners. Senior Kevin Santora is tied for 12th in assists with 12.
Andrew Fontein is 10th in saves with 107 in his career and is tied for fifth with nine shutouts. His 0.97 goals against average has him in second place currently on the career list.
FOLLOW THE ‘EATERS WITH GAMETRACKER: Fans will be able to follow all NCAA Tournament matches Gametracker. By clicking on the Gametracker link on the UCI schedule page, fans will be able to follow the action at every Anteater match in the NCAA Tournament over the internet.
UCI’S COACHING STAFF The Anteaters are led by head coach George Kuntz who is in his 15th year at the UCI helm. Kuntz was named NSCAA Far West Region Coach of the Year in 2008 for the second time in the past three years. Additionally, he has been the Big West Coach of the Year in two of the past three years.
Assistant coach Chris Volk is in his 13th season at UCI as coach Kuntz’s lead assistant. In 2008, Volk was named the NSCAA/adidas West Region Assistant Coach of the Year.
2009 Stats
Player Goals Assists Points GWG
Irving Garcia 8 9 25 5
Amani Walker 9 3 21 3
Carlos Aguilar 6 7 19 1
Spencer Thompson 7 4 18 3
Kevin Santora 3 5 11 2
Jonathan Prieto 3 1 7 0
Corey Attaway 1 1 3 0
Gray Bailey 1 1 3 0
Zach Olow 1 0 2 1
Jorge Reyes 0 2 2 0
Joel Bagby 0 1 1 0
Jimmy Turner 0 1 1 0
Everett Pitts 0 1 1 0
Andrew Fontein 0 1 1 0
Goalkeeper Min. Svs GA GAA SHO
Victor Chinchilla 980 39 14 1.29 2
Andrew Fontein 934 34 9 0.87 4
Elmer Avelar 54 1 0 0.00 0
