No. 12 UCI Suffers Narrow 11-9 Defeat to No. 6 Pacific
October 05, 2018 | Men's Water Polo
IRVINE, Calif. – In an exciting Golden Coast Conference season-opener, the No. 12 UC Irvine men's water polo team dropped a close 11-9 decision to No. 6 Pacific Friday night at Anteater Aquatics Complex.
With the loss UCI falls to 5-7 overall and 1-1 in GCC play. The Tigers improve to 6-5 on the season and 1-0 in the conference.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Senior Jack Trush had a team-high four goals
> Sophomore Casey Lynton notched his first hat trick of the season, scoring three goals
> Jason Evezard and Jon Polos each had one goal
> Byron Rivers played a complete game in goal and tallied 11 saves and one steal
> UOP's Luke Pavillard finished with a game-high five goals
> John Hedges made 12 saves in goal for the Tigers
> UCI held a slight 33-31 advantage in shots
> The Anteaters went 2-of-8 on powerplays while UOP was 3-of -9
> Lynton grabbed a game-high five steals as UCI totaled eight steals on the night
TURNING POINTS
> Luke Pavillard put the Tigers on the board early before Evezard answered with a UCI goal at 4:57 in the first quarter
> Pavillard fired in another goal to give UOP a 2-1 lead after the first quarter
> Trush scored early in the second quarter to knot the game, 2-2, but the Tigers answered with three-straight goals to take a 5-2 lead with 3:37 remaining in the frame
> Lynton fired in back-to-back goals before Trush scored with just under a minute to play before halftime to tie the game, 5-5, at intermission
> The two teams exchanged goals in the third quarter as the game remained tied, 7-7, heading into the fourth quarter
> Lynton found Trush who fired in a goal to make it 8-7 with 7:32 left to play
> UOP's Engin Ege Colak scored back-to-back to swing the game in the Tigers' favor, 9-8, before Trush notched another goal to knot the game, 9-9, with 4:51 showing on the clock
> UOP scored twice in the final two minutes to seal the 11-9 win
CASEY LYNTON ON TONIGHT'S PERFORMANCE
"The end result wasn't what we wanted but I thought we played really well together as a team. We focused a lot on how to defend Pacific this week and I thought we did that fairly well. My teammates set me up with a lot of good passes and I was able to score a few goals tonight. We will move forward from this and look forward to playing them again next week."
NOTES
> UCI is 63-18 all-time against Pacific but has suffered eight-straight losses to the Tigers
> Jason Evezard continued his streak of scoring at least one goal in every game so far this season
> Jack Trush improves his career goal count to 93
> It was Casey Lynton's first career hat trick
UP NEXT
UCI will compete in the MPSF Invitational Oct. 12-14 in Palo Alto. The Anteaters are set for a rematch against Pacific in the first game of the tournament Friday, Oct. 12 at 5:30 p.m.
With the loss UCI falls to 5-7 overall and 1-1 in GCC play. The Tigers improve to 6-5 on the season and 1-0 in the conference.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Senior Jack Trush had a team-high four goals
> Sophomore Casey Lynton notched his first hat trick of the season, scoring three goals
> Jason Evezard and Jon Polos each had one goal
> Byron Rivers played a complete game in goal and tallied 11 saves and one steal
> UOP's Luke Pavillard finished with a game-high five goals
> John Hedges made 12 saves in goal for the Tigers
> UCI held a slight 33-31 advantage in shots
> The Anteaters went 2-of-8 on powerplays while UOP was 3-of -9
> Lynton grabbed a game-high five steals as UCI totaled eight steals on the night
TURNING POINTS
> Luke Pavillard put the Tigers on the board early before Evezard answered with a UCI goal at 4:57 in the first quarter
> Pavillard fired in another goal to give UOP a 2-1 lead after the first quarter
> Trush scored early in the second quarter to knot the game, 2-2, but the Tigers answered with three-straight goals to take a 5-2 lead with 3:37 remaining in the frame
> Lynton fired in back-to-back goals before Trush scored with just under a minute to play before halftime to tie the game, 5-5, at intermission
> The two teams exchanged goals in the third quarter as the game remained tied, 7-7, heading into the fourth quarter
> Lynton found Trush who fired in a goal to make it 8-7 with 7:32 left to play
> UOP's Engin Ege Colak scored back-to-back to swing the game in the Tigers' favor, 9-8, before Trush notched another goal to knot the game, 9-9, with 4:51 showing on the clock
> UOP scored twice in the final two minutes to seal the 11-9 win
CASEY LYNTON ON TONIGHT'S PERFORMANCE
"The end result wasn't what we wanted but I thought we played really well together as a team. We focused a lot on how to defend Pacific this week and I thought we did that fairly well. My teammates set me up with a lot of good passes and I was able to score a few goals tonight. We will move forward from this and look forward to playing them again next week."
NOTES
> UCI is 63-18 all-time against Pacific but has suffered eight-straight losses to the Tigers
> Jason Evezard continued his streak of scoring at least one goal in every game so far this season
> Jack Trush improves his career goal count to 93
> It was Casey Lynton's first career hat trick
UP NEXT
UCI will compete in the MPSF Invitational Oct. 12-14 in Palo Alto. The Anteaters are set for a rematch against Pacific in the first game of the tournament Friday, Oct. 12 at 5:30 p.m.
Players Mentioned
UTL
/ Men's Water Polo
ATT
/ Men's Water Polo
GK
/ Men's Water Polo
ATK
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