UPCOMING MATCHES

Fluid Four (Bloomington, Ind.)
March 7 & 8, 2015

No. 5 UC Irvine Anteaters at No. 16 Indiana Hoosiers
Sat. Mar. 7 / 9:30 AM 

No. 5 UC Irvine Anteaters vs. Michigan Wolverines
Sat. Mar. 7 / 2:30 PM 

 No. 5 UC Irvine Anteaters vs. Hartwick Hawks
Sun. Mar. 8 / 7:00 AM 

OPENING SPRINTS

The fifth-ranked Anteaters were put to the test going into sudden-victory overtime at San Diego State followed by an offensive juggernaut in USC.

The 12th-ranked Aztecs gave UCI a run for its money jumping out to a 3-0 lead and nearly stealing the match in the final seconds of regulation before flowing over into a third overtime period.

Danielle Warde provided a goal to the scoresheet, but also had seven steals on the defensive end. Jillian Yocum made eight key saves including two in the sudden victory overtime period to keep the 'Eaters afloat.

Also, the goal-scoring hero in Mary Brooks gave the 'Eaters the lead in the fourth and eventually finished the match with 1:09 left in sudden victory.

Third-ranked USC invaded Anteater Aquatics Complex on Saturday along with their nearly 20 goal-per-match average and left with an 11-7 result. Warde contributed again with a goal and assisting on three others. McKenna Mitchell's three goals paced the team.

Two of USC's three lowest scoring outputs have come against the 'Eaters with 10 in the UCSD Triton Invite final and 11 on Saturday.

COUNTER ATTACK

The program recorded win No. 250 on Sunday, Feb. 1 with the win over UC Davis. The program is 257-220 in 482 career matches.

Head Coach Dan Klatt has been around for 208 of those wins. He earned his 200th win to open the season by defeating No. 7 San Jose State, 9-6.

The program as a whole began the season with 3,720 goals scored which has since risen to 3,832. The 'Eaters stood 280 goals away from the 4,000-goal mark entering the season, a mark the program has reached five times and three times in the last four years.

Scoring leader McKenna Mitchell tops the team with 22 goals this year. She's up to 110 in her career, 13th on the all-time list, eight away from Caitlin Haskell, assistant coach of Saturday's opponent, Michigan. Danielle Warde continues to climb the records with 174 all-time, fifth-most and 18 behind next on the list, Gianna Rossi.

The goal-scoring records were not threatened in the 3-2 win over Hawai'i in the fifth place match of the UC Irvine Invitational. The five total goals marked the lowest total in a match in Anteater program history. The three goals were lowest in a UCI win as well. That win did mark the highest-ever finish in the tournament at fifth.

Jillian Yocum is up to 789 career saves, 143 away from all-time leader Lauren Machanis. She has four double-digit save matches in 2015. Her single-season high is 14 she set as a sophomore. All-time, the senior has 35 double-digit save performances in all.

SPLASHING ABOUT

UC Irvine embarks on a travel-filled 2015 schedule beginning, and possibly ending, in Palo Alto, Calif. This year marks the first season to open at the Stanford Invitational. Other destinations including UC San Diego for the Triton Invite, Bloomington, Indiana for the Fluid Four, and Hawai'i for the Big West Tournament.

UC Irvine has a total of seven home matches of its 28 scheduled this season. The 'Eaters had four in the UC Irvine Invitational, and an 11-7 loss to USC. Contests with Hawai'i and UC Davis remain in April.

Based on the preseason poll, 18 of the 20 ranked squads show up on the schedule missing just Princeton and Harvard.

The Anteaters will face its first unranked squad on Sunday in Hartwick. It's Saturday afternoon opponent, Michigan, will be the second program to be receiving votes at the time of the matchup joining Santa Clara from the UCSD Triton Invite.

FLUID FLOWING

UC Irvine is making a rare trip east to Bloomington, Indiana for its first showing in the Fluid Four Tournament.

This marks the second trip eastward joining the 2011 NCAA Tournament held at Michigan, aside from a couple jaunts to Arizona.

UCI's trip will open Saturday morning against the hosts. All-time, UC Irvine has won four of seven matchups with Indiana, and the two last met to open the 2012 season in Santa Barbara, a 9-4 Anteater win. No. 16 IU has had a rocky, 6-6 start to 2015 with an upset of No. 9 Princeton coupled with losses to Santa Clara and Marist.

Junior Candyce Schroeder's 19 goals lead the team while four other Hoosiers have recorded 10 or more goals. Colleen McNaught's 22 assists and Summer Creighton's 13 steals also lead the team as seniors. Junior goalie Mary Campbell has stopped 105 shots and posted a 7.90 goals-against-average seeing action in all 12 matches.

UCI matches up with Michigan later Saturday. The 'Eaters won, 9-4, to open the UC Irvine Invitational and have a 3-2 edge in the all-time series. UM is 5-8 and has yet to play since going 0-4 at the Invite.

Junior Ali Thomason tops all scorers with 18 and leads with 28 steals. Freshman Caroline Anderson has registered 20 steals and leads all with 15 assists. Sophomore Emily Browning has taken two-thirds of the minutes stopping 76 shots and posting a 8.24 goals-against-average.

Hartwick rounds out the field with the first meeting since UCI won 20-5 in the CBU Lancer Invite of 2012. The Hawks are 8-12 with an upset of LMU, but rough losses to Cal Baptist, Harvard, and a split with Marist.

Over three-fourths of the Hawks' goals from the clan of Katie McKenty, Blanca Anton Cuesta, Brittany Tait, and Nicolina Mihajlovik. The freshman McKenty also leads the team in assists and steals while Michaela Davies has patrolled the net with a 9.33 goals-against-average.

_________________________________________________________

For UC Irvine Athletics ticket information, please call (949) 824-5000 or e-mailathletics.tickets@uci.edu. For more information click here.

For information on how you can help support UC Irvine Athletics, please call (949) 824-6933 or e-mail aaf@uci.edu. For additional information, click here.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and by downloading the UCI Front Row app, available free to all Anteater fans through iTunes and Google Play, to view schedules, results, and up-to-the-minute news.