'Eaters Host No. 12/9 Long Beach State For Regular Season Finale - UCI Athletics
IRVINE, Calif. – UC Irvine caps off their regular season with a Black and Blue rivalry non-conference match with No. 12/9 Long Beach State this Friday (Nov. 15) evening.Week 11 Notes
THIS WEEKEND
No. 12/9 Long Beach State at No. 8/6 UC Irvine
Friday, November 15 | 7:00 PM | Anteater Aquatics Complex
Live Stats
THIS WEEK'S STORYLINES
> UC Irvine enters the week ranked eighth in the CWPA Weekly Poll and sixth in the Association of College Water Polo Coaches poll
> UCI closes out their home stand and the regular season with a non-conference meeting with Black and Blue rival No. 12/9 Long Beach State
> The Anteaters defended their Big West regular season title over the weekend as they went a perfect 5-0 in league action
> In addition to the share of the title, UCI earned a spot in the semifinals in the 2024 Big West Championship
> UC Irvine is riding a nine game win streak, the longest of any Big West team this season, and longest for the program since the nine-game stretch from Sept. 7-21 in 2013. The 'Eaters are going for their tenth straight win which would be the longest since the 12-win stretch from Oct. 2-24, 1992
> No. 12/9 Long Beach State enters the contest with a 15-10 overall record and finished the Big West season 2-3
> Over the last weekend, the Beach dropped a crucial league contest to UC Santa Barbara, 15-13, in overtime
> Gabi Acosta leads LBSU in goals scored with 52
> Evan Cain (45) and Corbin Stanley (41) are bot h past the 40-goal season mark
> Aaron Wilson and Liam Ward split time in the cage for the Beach
> Wilson leads with 137 saves and Ward has collected 109 on the year
PLAYER NOTES
> UC Irvine collected two wins in their home pool this weekend, the first against Cal State Fullerton, 21-7, and the next over Whittier, 27-11
> Versus Cal State Fullerton
- Johann Thrall led all scorers with six goals scoring twice in each of the first three quarters
- Stewart Campbell and Jack Stevens each had four-goal matches. Alex Lopez and Ben Youngblood also had two goals each
- UCI out-shot Cal State Fullerton, 36-21, making 58.3% percent of their shots
- Pyle and Byrne came together for eight saves in net with Pyle collecting the victory
- Pyle joined Cole Francisco with a pair of assists each of the 10 'Eaters with an assist
- UC Irvine totaled 12 steals with multiples for Lopez, Stevens, Youngblood, and Luka Krstic
- Tyler Padua drew three exclusions to lead the squad that drew 11 as a team
> Against Whittier
- Samuel Otta contributed five goals on the evening, just one shy of tying his career best
- Thomas Cass, Jack Stevens, and Jasper Dale all notched traditional hat-tricks
- Ethan Shipman, Luka Krstic, Johann Thrall, and Ethan Spoon also recorded multiple goals with two each
- Tyler Padua, Alex Lopez, Keegan McGann, Tyler Laymon, and Maddox McEwen rounded out the scoring with a goal apiece
- UCI outshot Whittier, 41-24
- The Anteaters converted 65.9 percent of their shots
- Zayd Mahmoud played the first 16 minutes in the cage
- Aidan Byrne entered into the net in the second half and made two saves
- Five Anteaters dished out two assists each
- Cole Francisco, Padua, and Thrall led the team with two steals apiece
- The Anteaters held Whittier to 1-11 (0.091) on power play chances
> In the Big West as of Nov. 13, several Anteaters rank in the top-10 in several statistical categories: goals (3rd- Krstic, 5th- Thrall)), assists (5th- Shipman, 8th), points (3rd- Krstic, 7th- Thrall), field blocks (1st- Krstic, 3rd- Cass and Matos, 7th- Shipman and Stevens), sprint wins (4th- Stevens, 9th- Thrall, 10th- Krstic), steals (5th- Francisco), saves (5th- Pyle, 6th- Mahmoud), save percentage (2nd- Mahmoud, 6th- Pyle), and goals against average (3rd- Mahmoud, 6th- Pyle)
