UC Irvine Pulls off Magical UCLA Upset

by Victor Olorunfemi

November 10, 2023

For just the second time in NCAA Women’s Soccer history, a 16 seed has defeated the one seed as UC Irvine pulled off a shocking upset of defending national champions UCLA. The moment came in the 87th minute as the Anteaters, down to 10 players due to a 75th-minute red card, scored on an Aislynn Crowder free-kick headed home by Alyssa Moore. In a moment of real déjà vu, Moore scored in 2021 when UC Irvine, then a 14 seed, upset UCLA in the first round.

ZOTZOTZOTZOTZOTZOT #RipEm pic.twitter.com/vKdYdAu4tg
— UCI Women's Soccer (@UCIwsoc) November 11, 2023

The result speaks to the importance of team building and familiarity in college soccer, as nine UC Irvine players from that 2021 upset appeared again tonight. And for Crowder, who provided the assist, she was on the UCLA roster that night before transferring to UC Irvine the following season.

It truly is a remarkable accomplishment for a team that clawed its way into the Big West tournament as the second-lowest seed, needed a penalty shootout to win the first round, and had to conquer three road games to even get to the NCAA tournament. Glo Hinojosa was exceptional in goal, making several clutch saves as Kiera Smeenge, Suus de Bakke, Madison Goerlinger, and Mihaela Perez did well to limit the Bruins to five shots on target.

In an example of the cruelty of the beautiful game, UCLA dominated possession and had a 22-2 shooting edge, but all UC Irvine needed was one set-piece to end UCLA’s incredible season that finishes at 16-2-1.

The only other time a 16 seed upset a No. 1 in the tournament was in 2006 when USC defeated Santa Clara 1-0 with a game-winner from Amy Rodriguez, which also came in the 87th minute.

With the college soccer world still reeling from the result, Stanford is the new favorite to make it out of the region, while UC Irvine will play the winner of the Gonzaga-Idaho match.

Related Topics: Big West, Pacific 12