UC Irvine
UC Davis
UC Irvine Advances To Championship Behind Mary Brooks' Dominant Performance
April 29, 2017 | Women's Water Polo
DAVIS, Calif. – Mary Brooks had a dominant performance to lead No. 1 seed UC Irvine to a 14-2 victory over No. 4 UC Davis in a semifinal of the Big West Championship at the Schaal Aquatics Center Saturday.
The Anteaters, who are ranked sixth nationally, will face third-seed Long Beach State at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow for the championship. The Forty-Niners upset No. 2 Hawaii, 8-7 in overtime to join UCI in the title match.
Brooks set a Big West Tournament record with six goals, tying her career-best. The six goals is tied for second most in a game by a UCI player. She also added two assists and two steals in the win.
Goalkeeper Annika Nelson was also impressive with a career-high 15 saves. The 15 saves is second most in a Big West Tournament game and ranks tied for fifth most in the UCI record books.
The Anteaters had two goals from Kelsey Thornton and a goal each from Allie Loomis, Corinna Toledo, Cara Borkovec, Keana Eldridge, McKenna Mitchell and Natalie Seidemann.
Kelsey Thornton started the scoring on a pass from Mary Brooks on a 6-5 advantage at 5:38. Mary Brooks then scored her first goal of the game at 3:36 to give UCI a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period.
Brooks would be involved in all of UCI's second period scoring, first passing to Keana Eldridge at 5:07 then scoring herself at 3:58 and 3:05 to extend the UCI lead to 5-0 at the half.
In the third period, Brooks continued to dominate the game with a power play goal from the right side on an Allie Loomis pass at 6:54. On the next possession, Loomis found McKenna Mitchell down low for a goal at 6:07. Brooks swam down the right side on a counter attack and skipped the ball in to the cage at 4:14, 8-0. UC Davis would finally get on the board with a goal at 3:55 by Annie Kutt. Corinna Toledo got in to the scoring at 3:30 before Natalie Seidemann drew an exclusion and Kelsey Thornton capitalized with a goal at 2:19 to put UCI up 10-1. Cara Borkovec and Julie Sweica traded passes until Borkovec found the back of the cage at 1:30. The Aggies would close out the period on a Chloe Robinson goal at 1:08 as UCI would lead 11-2 entering the final period of play.
Brooks put her name in the Big West record books with her sixth goal on a breakaway lob at 7:20. Loomis would fire a goal from the right side (4:40) and Seidemann ended the scoring on a pass from Reagan Castillo at 2:30. Annika Nelson would give way to Jenna Phreaner who would record two saves in the final 2:30.
The Anteaters extend their winning streak to 13 in a row and improve to 22-6 overall. UC Davis ends the year with a 16-17 overall record.
SCORING BY PERIOD
UC Davis 0-0-2-0-2
UC Irvine 2-3-6-3-14
Scoring
UC Davis: Kutt 1, Robinson 1.
UC Irvine: Brooks 6, Thornton 2, Eldridge 1, Mitchell, 1, Toledo 1, Borkovec 1, Loomis 1, Seidemann 1
Saves
Nelson (UCI) 15, Phreaner (UCI) 2, Dotterer (UCD) 6.
