UC Irvine’s Women’s Soccer (1-0) took their first win, 4-1, in their 2025 season opener against Grand Canyon University (0-1) Lopes at GCU Stadium on Aug. 14.
The Anteaters made quite an impression within the first ten minutes of the first half as they remained in control of the ball, with the opportunity of a corner kick within the first minute of the match by graduate midfielder Trinity Morales.
Within the first ten minutes also came the first goal of the game, courtesy of UCI’s senior midfielder Mia Colombini, who squeezed a bottom-center shot by GCU’s junior goalkeeper Emma Knack in the sixth minute with an assisted pass from UCI’s sophomore midfielder Milan Heisdorf.
The Anteater’s early lead, their quick passing decisions and constant action on GCU’s side of the pitch put pressure on the Lopes. UCI’s redshirt junior goalkeeper Laurynn Ziller faced little to no pressure until the 19th minute when GCU’s redshirt sophomore forward Ellie Johannes made the Lopes’ first shot attempt of the game, which was unsuccessful and Ziller’s first save of the night.
As the 34-minute mark rolled around, the Anteaters tried to remain in possession of the ball as the Lopes amped up their offensive aggression, looking to even out the score. In the 41st minute, GCU’s senior forward Payton Fisher made a quality shot attempt but was off target. This momentum going into the 43rd minute, however, allowed for the Lopes’ freshman forward Maya Paeske to fire a bottom right shot past Ziller for GCU’s first goal of the night.
With the first half concluding with a 1-1 score, both teams headed into the second half of the match making multiple substitutions and hoping to put themselves ahead.
The Lopes started the second half making their presence known and applying pressure on Ziller with a total of five off-target shot attempts within the first 15 minutes.
Trying to find their footing in the second half, UCI found an opportunity in the 63rd minute when they were awarded a corner kick. In the 65th minute, Colombini tried for a bottom center shot that was saved by Knack, but a slight fumble from the GCU goalkeeper allowed for UCI’s freshman forward Fiona Shin to capitalize and score a go-ahead goal into the bottom right corner. This 2-1 breakthrough for the Anteaters set the tone for the rest of the second half as the Lopes struggled to respond.
The following attempt to tally came shortly after in the 68th minute from the Anteaters’ redshirt sophomore Kori Pickelle, who sent her first career goal from just outside the penalty box soaring into the top right of the net, putting UCI up 3-1.
The Lopes ran into some trouble in their efforts to strike back against the Anteaters’ defense with three fouls and a yellow card on Paeske for unsporting behavior.
UCI used this trouble to their advantage in the 77th minute and capitalized on a corner kick from senior midfielder Mirayah Villalpando that deflected off GCU’s junior midfielder Madison Hamm. From the top of the box, Morales used the deflection to slip a shot by Knack and increase the Anteater lead to 4-1.
In the last minutes of the match, the Lopes could not equalize as the Anteaters’ defense remained solid, holding on to their significant lead and prioritizing their possession of the ball.
The season opener for both teams concluded in a 4-1 UCI win over GCU. The Anteaters held the upper hand over the Lopes in 13-12 total shots, 8-4 shots on goals, 7-13 fouls, and 6-0 corner kicks.
Following this victory, the ‘Eaters remained on the road in Arizona for their following non-conference match against the University of Arizona on Aug. 17 at Murphey Field at Mulcahy Stadium where they fell 1-0 in a last-minute defeat.
Gissel Delgado is a Sports Intern for the summer 2025 quarter. She can be reached at gissead1@uci.edu.
Edited by Jack Fedor and Joshua Gonzales