IRVINE, Calif. - The No. 8 UC Irvine men's soccer team (12-1-2, 5-0-1) defeated Cal State Fullerton 7-2 Saturday night in Big West Conference action at Anteater Stadium.

Sophomore Zach Olow (Poway HS) collected the ball and passed it to senior Spencer Thompson (Ahwatukee, Ariz./Mountain Pointe HS) who gave it right back to Olow who beat the keeper one-on-one to put UCI up 1-0 in the third minute. Thompson would make it 2-0 after he knocked in a throw in by junior Jimmy Turner (Mission Viejo HS) in the 14th minute. Senior Joel Bagby (Huntington Beach/Edison HS) capitalized after Fullerton miscleared a corner kick as he sent it inside the left post for a 3-0 lead in the 23rd minute. Junior Miguel Ibarra (Lancaster/Taft College) sent a corner kick to senior Corey Attaway (Chino HS) who passed it to junior Brett Berman (Westlake Village/Westlake HS) with Berman knocking it in from 20 yards out for a 4-0 UCI lead in the 27th minute. Ibarra sent another corner kick into the box where it was headed in by senior Amani Walker (San Diego/Francis Parker HS) in the 37th minute to put the Anteaters up 5-0. Attaway headed in a corner kick by junior Christian Hernandez (Palmdale/Taft College) in the 59th minute to put UCI up 6-0. Kevin Venegas took a free kick for the Titans in the 66th minute and put it inside the box where Jesse Escalante put it over the line to cut the lead to 6-1. Freshman Christopher Santa (Bishop/Bishop Union HS) had a shot saved by the keeper with the rebound coming out to senior Zlatan Kuckovic (Bosanski Novi, Bosnia/Sacramento State) who put it into the back of the net for a 7-1 lead.

Junior goalkeeper Andrew Fontein (Las Vegas, Nev./Sierra Vista HS) left the match at that point allowing freshman keeper Justin Tucker (El Toro HS) to see his first collegiate action. A yellow card inside the box on sophomore Everett Pitts (Chino Hills/Ayala HS) in the 81st minute gave Fullerton a penalty kick. Venegas took the kick for the Titans and went to the lower left corner where it was saved by Tucker. The ‘Eater defense misplayed the ball and it was picked up by Oscar Medina on the right side. Medina passed the ball to Venegas who hit the ball right at the keeper and had it go through the keeper into the net to make it 7-2.

Fontein had two saves in 73 minutes while Tucker had four saves in 17 minutes for the ‘Eaters. Keeper Trevor Whiddon had three saves for the Titans.

The seven goals scored is the most UCI has scored in a match since a 7-2 victory at Cal State Fullerton in 2001 and is tied for the third most all-time. The five goal margin of victory matches the 5-0 win against Air Force earlier this season. With seven different players scoring, UCI breaks the school record set back in 1988 with six players scoring in an 8-0 win over Loyola Marymount.

The ‘Eaters travel to Riverside to take on UC Riverside Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. in Big West play at UCR Soccer Stadium.