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UCI Anteaters Advance in NCAA Soccer Tournament to Sweet 16

Irvine Premier Soccer Club Coaching Director and UCI Women’s Head Coach leads the UCI Anteaters Knocking Off Wake Forest 2-0; Advance in NCAA Soccer Tournament to Sweet 16, UCI faces University of Washington in Round of 16.

IRVINE, Calif. – The UC Irvine women’s soccer team (19-2-2) defeated Wake Forest 2-0 Sunday afternoon in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at Anteater Stadium.

UCI advances to the Round of 16 and will host Washington Saturday (Nov. 20) at 6:00 p.m. at Anteater Stadium. The Huskies upset the No. 2 overall seed, Portland, 10-9 in penalty kicks after a 1-1 tie in regulation and two overtime periods Sunday.

Senior Tanya Taylor dribbled around inside the box and hit a ball inside the post to put UCI up 1-0 in the 12th minute. In the 71st minute, senior Alyssa Humphrey (Rancho Santa Margarita/Santa Margarita HS) took a free kick and sent it inside the box where a defender knocked it to Taylor. Taylor passed the ball up to junior CoCo Goodson (Ramona/Texas) who beat the keeper to put UCI up 2-0. Freshman Zuri Walker (San Diego/Francis Parker HS) was given a straight red card 21 seconds after Goodson’s goal forcing the `Eaters to play the final 19 minutes with 10 players on the field.

Senior keeper Danielle de Seriere (Cerritos/Mayfair HS) had two saves on the day as she earned her 11th shutout of the year. Keeper Aubrey Bledsoe had two saves in 77 minutes and keeper Amanda Barasha had no saves in 13 minutes.

Taylor is tied for second in the NCAA Tournament with three assists through the first two matches of the tourney. UCI matches the 2005 Cal State Fullerton team as only the second Big West Conference team to ever reach the third round of the NCAA Tournament. UCI’s 19 wins also match the most in a season in Big West history with the 2006 Titans.