Anteaters Face Long Beach State; Host Westcliff - UCI Athletics
IRVINE, Calif. – No. 9/10 UC Irvine is back on the road for a quick trip up the 405 to clash with Black and Blue rival No. 8/6 Long Beach State on Oct. 18 before hosting Westcliff (Oct. 19).Week Seven Notes
THIS WEEKEND
No. 9/10 UC Irvine at No. 8/6 Long Beach State
Friday, October 18 | 7:00 PM | Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center
Live Stats
Westcliff vs. No. 9/10 UC Irvine
Saturday, October 19 | 12:00 PM | Anteater Aquatics Complex
Watch | Live Stats
THIS WEEK'S STORYLINES
> UC Irvine enters the week ranked ninth in the CWPA Weekly Poll and are slated tenth in the Association of College Water Polo Coaches poll
> UCI continues league action on the road at Black and Blue rival No. 9 Long Beach State on Oct. 18 before taking on Westcliff (Oct. 19) in Irvine
> The Anteaters are looking for their first win over the Beach to snap a 12 game losing streak and look to stay unbeaten against the Warriors
> No. 8 Long Beach State enters the weekend with a 13-8 overall record and 0-1 in Big West play
> Over the last weekend, the Beach went 1-2 with a win over California (W, 12-9) and dropped to both UC Davis (L, 11-9) and Pacific (L, 14-9)
> LBSU is searching for their first conference victory of 2024
> Corbin Stanley is the lead goal scorer for the Beach with 39 on the season with Gabi Acosta (38), Evan Cain (36), Bruno Chiappini (32), and Marc Frigola (32) all closely behind
>Acosta was named to the 2024 Peter Cutino Award Watch List on Thursday morning, the third nomination for a Beach player in program history
> Both Liam Ward and the UC Davis transfer in Aaron Wilson have been splitting time in the cage
> Wilson has stopped a team best 109 shots while Ward has stopped 79
> It is a brother match-up with LBSU as Cole Francisco's brother Caleb Francisco plays for the Beach
> Westcliff comes into the contest with a 6-14 overall record
> In their last time out, the Warriors were defeated by No. 3 USC (L, 25-7), No. 16 LMU (L, 20-13), and No. 7 Princeton (L, 19-10)
> Manuel Augusto tops Westcliff with 61 goals scored and 70 points while Barnabas Vidovics has a team high 19 assists
> Armin Jusztin is second in NAIA ranks with his 102 saves on the season
PLAYER NOTES
> UC Irvine went 1-1 over the last week of action where the narrowly fell to No. 18 California Baptist, 12-11, before collecting their first Big West win of the season over No. 15 UC San Diego by the same score
> Against No. 18/18 California Baptist
- Freshman Cole Francisco recorded two goals in the final eight minutes to lead UCI with three total
- The attacker also added a team best two steals
- Luka Krstic and Jack Stevens were the other Anteaters to record multiple goals with two each
- Tyler Padua, Ethan Shipman, Johann Thrall, and Brody Luke rounded out the scoring
- Gage Verdegaal dished out a game best three assists
- Zayd Mahmoud made the start in the cage and stopped six shots in 24 minutes
- Jacob Pyle entered the game in the fourth to make two saves
- Stevens led all players with four drawn exclusions
> Against No. 15/13 UC San Diego
- Ethan Shipman was lethal offensively with eight goal contributions (two goals and six assists)
- The attacker's six dimes are the most by an Anteater since Robby Stiefel did it on Sept. 9, 2017, vs. LMU
- Stewart Campbell, Luka Krstic, and Ethan Spoon also had multi-score games with two each
- Cole Francisco, Gage Verdegaal, Johann Thrall, and Wyley Dale rounded out the scoring
- UCI was efficient on offense as they converted 50.0 percent of their shots (12-24)
- Zayd Mahmoud collected his fifth win of the season behind 12 saves
- Tyler Padua drew a team high four exclusions while three other Anteaters drew two kickouts
- Krstic led all players with three steals
> In the Big West as of Oct. 17, several Anteaters rank in the top-10 in several statistical categories: goals (9th- Krstic), assists (6th- Verdegaal, 9th- Shipman), points (8th- Krstic), field blocks (2nd- Krstic, 4th- Shipman, 6th- Matos, 9th- Cass), steals (6th- Francisco), saves (5th- Mahmoud, 6th- Pyle), save percentage (1st- Mahmoud, 6th- Pyle), and goals against average (3rd- Mahmoud, 6th- Pyle)
