UCI no novelty act

IRVINE — The capacity crowd was novel, the NCAA bunting unprecedented and the prospect of having Thanksgiving dinner with teammates similarly foreign to this history-making UC Irvine men’s soccer team.

But the Anteaters’ performance on the field in the second round of the NCAA Tournament was, at least this season, old hat.

The No. 14-seeded hosts received a pair of goals from junior midfielder Irving Garcia and added a tack-on tally by senior midfielder Rafael Macedo, all after more than 58 scoreless minutes, to top Big West Conference rival Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 3-0, Tuesday in front of 2,500 at Anteater Stadium.

“I met with [UCI men’s volleyball coach John Speraw, and [men’s basketball coach] Pat Douglass,” said UCI Coach George Kuntz, who was soliciting tips from those who have won national championships (Douglass’ at Division II Cal State Bakersfield) on how to prepare the first of his 14 UCI squads for the postseason. “I even called Sigi [Schmid, the former longtime UCLA head man who guided the Columbus Crew to the MLS Cup on Sunday] about how to approach an NCAA Tournament game and they all gave me great information. The thing they all said was don’t change a thing. Don’t treat it as a tournament game, treat it as any other game. Train like you would normally train and act like you would normally act. And that’s what the [players] did. They just came with a little more passion tonight, a little bit more conviction.”

There may have been those who still needed convincing that the Big West regular-season and tournament champions (15-1-6), ranked No. 7 nationally by the coaches, No. 1 in the West Region, and seeded No. 14, which came with a first-round bye, deserved their place among the collegiate elite.

But it’s becoming more difficult, if not impossible, to ferret out the doubters, none of whom were on the winning bench Friday.

UCI, on a seven-game winning streak and unbeaten in its last 11 contests, will get yet another chance to convert remaining fence-sitters when the ’Eaters fly cross-country Thursday to prepare to meet No. 3-seeded St. John’s in a third-round clash Saturday at 2 p.m. Pacific Time.

St. John’s improved to 17-2-3 with a 1-0 triumph Tuesday over Boston University.

“We have a lot of guys who are the real deal right now,” said Kuntz, whose team has outscored opponents, 18-6, during its current winning streak, including a season-best-tying four goals in the Big West Tournament final over UC Santa Barbara. “It’s a good time to be playing well.”

The ’Eaters took their time Tuesday, opening the game peppering long kicks into the Cal Poly half of the field, in an attempt to take the Mustangs (11-6-6) out of their preferred style of play.

“The intention was to play in their half and put them under pressure,” Kuntz said. “When we played them in the last game [a 1-1 tie Oct. 22 at Cal Poly], we played in front of them and we made it pretty easy to defend us. Today, we wanted to play behind. If there was going to be a mistake, it was going to be their mistake, not ours.”

Garcia, a junior college All-American last season who has scored four goals the last three games, after having posted just two in the first 19, is making a habit of creating defensive mistakes. A late-season shift from outside to center midfield, as well as giving him more freedom to push the attack, have also helped Garcia record at least one point (goal or assist) in the last six games.

Garcia fielded a pass from Amani Walker near the top of the 18-yard box and fired it in with 58:33 elapsed to open the scoring.

Garcia then benefited from a through ball by senior defender Kyle Schmid in the 71st minute, gaining possession then directing it around a charging goalkeeper, before calmly depositing it into the net for what was officially an unassisted goal.

In the 74th minute, sophomore forward Spencer Thompson, who missed all but a few minutes of the two conference tournament games with a sprained ankle, served a cross approximately 30 yards to Macedo, who found the net for unneeded insurance.

“In the second half, we just played a little bit more offensive, and once the first goal came, we kind of loosened up a little,” said UCI freshman goalie Andrew Fontein, the Big West Tournament MVP who had five saves Tuesday to record his fifth shutout.

“I’m excited for all the people that came, to the coach, to my family, to everyone that is supporting the team,” Garcia said. “This will be my first time to New York. I’m excited. I hope we can go see the Statue of Liberty or something.”

There was a 30-minute delay late in the second half, after Cal Poly sophomore Derek Brown appeared to take a knee to the head while making a tackle.

He was tended to on the field and taken by ambulance to Western Medical Center with an apparent concussion. He also reported neck pain, officials said.

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at [email protected].