UCI Set For GCC Tournament; Faces SJSU In First Round

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Golden Coast Conference Championships
Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center – Long Beach, Calif.
Nov. 16-18

Tournament Central | Tournament Bracket (PDF)

GCC First Round
No. 5 San Jose State (6-17, 0-5) vs. No. 4 UC Irvine (8-15, 1-4)
Friday, Nov. 16 | 1 p.m. | Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center | Long Beach, Calif.
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14^th-ranked UCI opens actions at the Golden Coast Conference Tournament Friday, Nov. 16 against fifth-seed No. 19 San Jose State at 1 p.m. All tournament games will be held at the Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center on the campus of Long Beach State.

TOURNAMENT STORYLINES
> Pacific earned the No. 1 seed by winning the regular-season title with a 4-1 conference record. Pepperdine, the No. 2 seed, will play third-seeded Long Beach State in the first semifinal on Saturday, Nov. 17 at 11 a.m.
> The second semifinal with feature top-seeded Pacific taking on the winner of Friday's game between UCI and San Jose State. That semifinal is slated for 1 p.m.
> Championship Sunday will start with the third place game at 11 a.m. followed by the title game at 1 p.m.
> The winner of the tournament earns the GCC's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships Dec 1-2 in Palo Alto
> All five tournament teams are ranked inside the top-20 in the latest Collegiate Water Polo Association Poll
> UCI is 3-2 all-time at the GCC Tournament. The Anteaters had their best showing at last year's championship, advancing to the title game before falling to Pacific, 9-5
> UCSB removed itself from the 2018 GCC Tournament

ABOUT THE SPARTANS
> SJSU lost its last six games and finished 0-5 in GCC play
> The Spartans are led by Justin Pickering with 30 goals. Yahav Fire has 114 saves and a 9.63 goals against average
> UCI defeated SJSU it its regular-season meeting this year by a score of 11-10
> The 'Eaters are 7-0 against SJSU since 2015

LAST TIME OUT
> UCI dropped two games last week including an 11-12 loss to Cal Baptist and suffered an 8-7 defeat against Long Beach State
> UCI has lost five-straight games, its last win came against San Jose State on Oct. 27
> Bryant Jourdie and Jack Trush led the 'Eaters in scoring amassing four goals each over the two games
> Chandler Mankins started both games in goal for UCI and totaled 17 saves

'EATERS EARN ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS
> Five Anteaters earned All-GCC awards including Jack Trush, Jason Evezard, Byron Rivers, Casey Lynton and Zlatan Nikocevic
> Evezard was named the Newcomer of the Year and was also placed on the All-GCC second team. He leads UCI and is fourth in the conference with 59 goals
> Trush earned first team honors after leading UCI with 68 exclusions drawn. He is second on the roster with 41 goals
> Byron Rivers joined Evezard on the second team as he leads the GCC in saves (186) and started the first 16 games of the season before suffering an injury
> Lynton was an honorable mention selection. He is tied for first in the conference in steals (42) and second in assists (28). Lynton has scored 28 goals
>Nikocevic earned a spot on the All-Freshman Team as he has 17 goals, 12 assists and nine steals in his first season with the Anteaters

NEWS AND NOTES
> UCI remained No. 11 in this week's Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) national rankings. The Anteaters started the year at No. 10
> Sophomore transfer Jason Evezard wasted no time making an immediate impact on the UCI roster as he leads the team with 59 goals
> Evezard has scored at least once in every game except two, has a team-best 11 hat tricks and a 19-3 record in sprints
> Byron Rivers started 16 games in goal for the Anteaters, compiling a GCC-best 186 saves for a .544 save percentage
> Evezard is fourth in the GCC in goals (59)
> Casey Lynton leads the conference in steals with 20 and is second in the GCC in assists with 28
> Ian Fleenor is a perfect 9-0 in sprints
> UCI has lost five-straight games
> UCI has lost six games this season by only one goal including two conference contests against Pepperdine (12-13) and Long Beach State (7-8)

JACK HITS 100
> Senior Jack Trush scored his 100^th career goal in UCI's 17-10 win over LMU on Oct. 14
> Tush leads UCI with 68 drawn exclusions this season and is second in goals scored with 41

Schedule

UCI Set For GCC Tournament; Faces SJSU In First Round

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Players Mentioned

Jason Evezard

Ian Fleenor

Casey Lynton

Chandler Mankins

Zlatan Nikocevic

Byron Rivers

Jack Trush

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