IRVINE, Calif. – Following the regular season finale on Thursday, the UC Santa Barbara Women's Soccer team finished in a tie for fourth in the standings, but ultimately claimed the No. 5 seed as the tiebreaker went to UC Irvine based on regular season head-to-head. The last time the Gauchos and Anteaters met in the postseason was in 2019 when UCI defeated UCSB 1-0.
 
THE FIELD
The Big West Championship field was not officially set until the final day. Claiming the top six spots in order are CSUN, Cal Poly, Cal State Fullerton, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, Cal State Bakersfield.
 
The opening round will be held on Sunday, Nov. 2 with Cal State Fullerton hosting Cal State Bakersfield at 5 p.m. and UC Irvine hosting UC Santa Barbara at 6 p.m. Following the opening round, all semifinal matches and the championship match will be held at CSUN.
 
ABOUT THE ANTEATERS
UC Irvine comes into the Opening Round of The Big West Championships after defeating Hawai'i on Thursday night, 2-0. Overall, the 'Eaters are 8-4-7 and finished 5-2-3 in The Big West. The Anteaters won the regular-season matchup 2-0.
 
In UCI's last eight matches, they have posted a record of 4-1-3, with their lone loss coming against Cal Poly. Individually, the Colombini twins lead the offensive charge, combining for nine goals and eight assists this season. Overall, offensively, the Anteaters have had 10 different goal scorers this season with half of them scoring multiple.
 
Mia Colombini leads the team in points with 15 off seven goals and one assist, and in net, Laurynn Ziller has been the primary goalkeeper for UC Irvine, starting 15 games and playing in 16. Ziller posts a 0.59 goals against average with 35 saves and eight clean sheets, six of which are solo shutouts.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
The Gauchos and Anteaters will kick off at 6 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 2 in Irvine at Anteater Stadium. The game will not be broadcast, but fans can follow along on live stats at ucsbgauchos.com/WSOCLiveStats.