Heinrichs, UCI draw big crowd

IRVINE — New UC Irvine women’s soccer coach April Heinrichs said she was impressed by the crowd of 523 enthusiastic fans that watched the Anteaters’ season opener against Arizona State on Friday.

But the Arizona State fans in attendance had considerably more to cheer about.

The Sun Devils topped UC Irvine, 3-0, at Anteater Stadium behind two goals from Brittney Doty.

“On the whole, we played some good soccer tonight,” said Heinrichs, who previously coached the U.S. women’s national team for five years, including a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. “I thought the environment was tremendous. The crowd made it feel like an important game.”

Both teams battled early on, and Anteaters forward Kim Horn just missed a golden opportunity in the 16th minute. Horn’s shot from in front of the goal bounced off goalie Kim Bingham’s hands, then hit the right post before being cleared.

Arizona State scored seven minutes later, when a long free kick bounced off UCI goalie Erin Henry’s hands and landed at the feet of Doty.

She tapped it into the open net to give the Sun Devils a 1-0 advantage.

“They really weren’t three goals better than us,” Heinrichs said. “We gave away the first goal and that really changed the face of the game.”

The Anteaters had another chance in the 35th minute, but Britney Webster’s deflected shot was grabbed by Bingham just before charging teammate Frankee Kelly could get there.

In the 57th minute, a corner kick was headed in front of the goal by Makenzie Beahm and nearly kicked in by Kelly.

“I think we’re growing,” UCI defender Kelly Little said. “We’re making steps forward and the score tonight didn’t really indicate that.”

The Sun Devils struck again in the 61st minute. Bingham’s long clearing kick led to a breakaway for Doty, who scored past a diving Henry for a 2-0 lead.

Arizona State added its last goal in the 71st minute when a cross in front went to Courtney Crane at the far post, who scored.

The UC Irvine players didn’t walk off the field with their heads down.

“We’re always getting better,” forward Lauryn Birkinshaw said.

Heinrichs, who has also coached collegiately at Virginia, Maryland and Princeton, said she knows the expectations for her current team.

In a preseason poll, UC Irvine was picked to finish eighth in the Big West Conference for the third year in a row. But, she said, that’s irrelevant to her and her players.

“There’s going to be moral victories,” she said. “We put pressure on them for 15 or 20 minutes in the first half and that was a moral victory. I want a team that has a lot of pride.”