NorCal Tournament Bracket/Information
UC Irvine (7-0) vs. Long Beach State (7-0)
Saturday, September 17, 2011 – 9:20 a.m.
Chris Kjeldsen Pool – Stockton, Calif.
UC Irvine vs. USC or West Valley JC
Saturday, September 17, 2011 – TBA
Chris Kjeldsen Pool – Stockton, Calif.
Sunday's schedule, TBD
7-0 'EATERS AT NORCAL TOURNAMENT: Sixth-ranked UC Irvine opens against No. 9 Long Beach State in a battle of teams with similar 7-0 records in the NorCal Tournament Saturday morning at 9:20 at Chris Kjeldsen Pool on the campus of the University of the Pacific in Stockton.
UCI will face either top-ranked USC or West Valley JC in a second game Saturday. Sunday's schedule will be determined by results from Saturday's games.
FIVE WINS LAST WEEK: Coach Marc Hunt's UCI team picked up five victories this past week, including 13-8 over previous No. 6 UC Santa Barbara Saturday. Six straight goals in the second half propelled the 'Eaters to the victory.
Seniors Max Parrague, Trent Baxter and redshirt sophomore Mitch Wise recorded hat tricks for UCI in a 16-2 win over California Baptist last Thursday night.
On Saturday, a few hours after the victory over UCSB, redshirt freshmen Alan Robertson and Kyle Kittlitz scored three goals each in leading the 'Eaters past Chapman, 16-4.
UCI played two games in the Inland Empire Classic at Redlands Sunday, defeating Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 19-6, and Vanguard, 19-3.
Parrague, junior Nick Pfeil and Wise scored four goals apiece in the win over C-M-S. Baxter, Pfeil and Wise notched four goals each in the victory over Vanguard.
SCORING LEADERS: Mitch Wise, who was named the MPSF KAP7 Player of the Week, scored 15 goals in the five wins last week and leads UCI with 25 on the season. He has scored multiple goals in each of the season's first seven games.
Trent Baxter follows with 21 goals in the Anteater attack that has featured 13 different players scoring at least one goal this season.
Nick Pfeil has 16 goals, Max Parrague 13 and Alan Robertson 10.
IN GOAL: Coach Hunt is enjoying solid depth at goalkeeping this year with Michael Bailey, Jimmy Friedrich and Alex Kazmier sharing time in the cage.
Bailey has 34 saves in five games, Friedrich 32 in five appearances and Kazmier 25 in four contests.
IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS: The 'Eaters moved up two spots to No. 6 in this week's Collegiate Water Polo Association poll. USC, California, UCLA, Stanford and Pacific hold down the top five spots while UCI and Pepperdine are tied for No. 6.
LOOKING AHEAD: UCI opens its Mountain Pacific Sports Federation schedule at No. 1 USC Sept. 24 at 1:00 p.m.
The annual Alumni game is Sept. 25 at 12:00 p.m. at Anteater Pool.
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