UC Irvine’s Jonnae Joseph is welcomed by teammates.
UC Irvine’s women’s soccer team is gearing up for two big matches at home this week.
Thursday night, the Anteaters host Arizona at 7 p.m. and on Sunday, UCI is home against University of Utah at 1 p.m.
Last week UCI lost to USC, 1-0, opening the season with a loss for the sixth time in seven seasons.
In Thursday’s match, there was a record turnout of 1,704, breaking the previous mark of 1,611 set in 2011.
The crowd was also the largest Anteater Stadium crowd for a regular-season match. It was the fourth-largest stadium crowd on record. The men’s team has drawn more, but they were for post-season matches.
Three freshmen had their collegiate debuts on Thursday:
Kala McDaniel, Amber Huff, and Alex Jaquez.
The Anteaters were voted the favorites to win the Big West Conference in 2018 edging out a projected top four of Long Beach State, Cal State Fullerton, and Cal State Northridge.
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