The UC Irvine Women’s Soccer team (2-1-3) defeated the California State University, Sacramento (CSUS) Hornets (2-2), 4-0 in Sacramento on Aug. 28. The decisive victory snapped a rough three-game streak consisting of one loss and two draws for the Anteaters.
This match up marks the third time these two California teams have faced off with the Anteaters remaining undefeated 3-0 against the Hornets.
UCI found their morale shaken up early in the first minute of play when their redshirt sophomore defender Kori Pickelle took an elbow to the head in an attempt to jump for a header. This potential head injury called for sophomore midfielder Milan Heisdorf to replace Pickelle for the time being.
After that, the ‘Eaters wasted no time getting things started offensively in the match.
Following a blocked shot attempt by freshman forward Fiona Shin, UCI was awarded their first corner kick of the game in the third minute. While the ‘Eaters graduate midfielder Trinity Morales tried for a cross kick from the corner, a foul was immediately called on senior midfielder Ella Colombini for what seemed like impeding on the Hornets’ redshirt junior goalkeeper Izzy Palmatier.
This slight hurdle, however, did not bother Colombini as she continued moving forward in Sacramento’s penalty box. With a pass from sophomore forward Ariane Haysman Boaler in the fifth minute, Colombini found her way around three Sacramento defenders and put some power behind a kick that found its way to the back of the Hornets’ net. This goal was Colombini’s first career goal and put Irvine up 1-0 early on.
In retaliation, the Hornets’ offense also tried to make a shot attempt of their own in the fifth minute by freshman midfielder Sia Bharadwaj at the top left of the net, but Anteaters’ redshirt junior goalkeeper Laurynn Ziller saved with ease.
For the rest of the first half of the match, both teams struggled to get anything past their opponents’ goalkeepers as they continued to make shot attempts back-and-forth. While Sacramento had a difficult time using up space for effective passes, UCI struggled to put their shot attempts on target.
A battle for possession and pressure emerged as both teams tried to have the bigger physical presence on the field. A number of fouls were called on both teams in the first half with UCI having six fouls and Sacramento State having five fouls.
The physical aggression from the first half shifted into the second half as three more fouls were called on the Hornets within the first 10 minutes of the second half.
The Anteaters continued to make shot attempts during that time, hoping to find some success which they did very soon into the second half.
After returning from a close injury scare within the first minute of play, Pickelle received some assistance from both Colombini and Shin, who were able to bring the ball into Hornets’ territory. In the 58th minute, Pickelle fired the ball into the bottom right of the net past Palmatier to put the Anteaters up 2-0.
The Anteater’s offensive momentum did not stop heating up there.
Shortly after at the 63-minute mark, Shin won a corner against the Hornets’ junior midfielder Payton Inabata after maintaining good pursuit of the ball in the Hornets’ box. Shin’s cross from the corner made way for the Anteaters to maintain possession in the Hornets’ side of the pitch.
A pass from senior midfielder Mirayah Villalpando bounced its way toward UCI’s graduate defender Suus de Bakker in the 64th minute. Bakker slipped the ball at the bottom left of the Hornets’ net to make it 3-0 in favor of the Anteaters.
Feeling pressured by the clock ticking down, Sacramento’s Bharadwaj and Inabata were both unable to put their own separate shots past Irvine’s redshirt junior goalkeeper Savanna Arruda, who subbed in for Ziller.
The final successful attempt to score by either team was made once again by the Anteaters, 85 minutes into the match. With an assisted pass from freshman forward Mara Cochon, Pickelle — still a good distance from the Hornets’ box — carefully avoided Sacramento’s defenders before she struck the ball into the net to extend the Anteater lead 4-0.
As the game edged toward the end, Sacramento started to run out of time to put something up on the board. Their intense pursuit for possession within the final minutes resulted in a yellow card for redshirt freshman midfielder Izzy Scott after she roughly clashed with Villalpando.
The dominance of UCI’s offense put incredible pressure on Sacramento’s defense, including Palmatier who made a total of six saves during the game. For the ‘Eaters, Ziller made one save in her 75 minutes of play while Arruda made two saves in her 15 minutes on the field for a combined total of three saves.
By the end of the match, the Hornets could not come close to closing the gap set up by the Anteaters and were shut out 4-0. The Anteaters ultimately outshot the Hornets 16–5, ten of which were shots on goals. The ‘Eaters capitalized off the four corner kicks awarded to them during the match and did a solid job of keeping Sacramento from obtaining any of their own. The aggressive physical battle for possession between both teams produced ten fouls for Irvine and 11 for Sacramento.
Following this much needed triumph over the Hornets, the Anteaters stayed in Northern California to face the University of San Francisco Dons (1-3-1) at Negoesco Stadium on Sunday, Aug. 31 where both teams tied 0-0.
The Anteaters will head back to their territory in Anteater Stadium to take on the Northern Arizona University Lumberjacks (2-1-2) on Sunday, Sept. 7.
Gissel Delgado is a Sports Intern for the summer 2025 quarter. She can be reached at gissead1@uci.edu.
Edited by Jack Fedor and Annabelle Aguirre