Saturday, January 19
Santa Barbara, CA
9:45 AM
UC Irvine
vs
UCLA
Season Opens with Two Matches in Santa Barbara
January 16, 2019 | Women's Water Polo
IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine begins its 19th season of women's water polo action in the Gaucho Invite at Santa Barbara against a pair of NCAA Tournament squads, UCLA and Wagner.
Gaucho Invite
Campus Pool - Santa Barbara, Calif.
Saturday, January 19, 2019
No. 3 UCLA Bruins (0-0) vs. No. 6 UC Irvine Anteaters (0-0)
9:45 AM - Campus Pool - Santa Barbara, Calif.
No. 14 Wagner Seahawks (0-0) vs. No. 6 UC Irvine Anteaters (0-0)
3:15 PM - Campus Pool - Santa Barbara, Calif.
Weekend Information
Open Season
Head Coach Dan Klatt - "We set up our Fall as best as we can. We hosted two Fall invitationals and those allow us to get more people looks. China is physical, they're professional players so its a great advantage for us."
The Anteaters grew even more in their fall tournaments which each included the Chinese National Team as well as their international exemption match last weekend.
Senior Statement
The 2019 season is the return of Mary Brooks who utilized her red-shirt season in 2018. Brooks' scoring presence where she's scored over 50 goals in each of her last competitive seasons was missed last season as the 'Eaters' depth-laden roster produced a high scorer of 41 goals.
Coach Klatt has his eye on more than just her athletic abilities. "Team comradery is very strong, they look out for each other in both ways - picking players up in rough times and keeping everyone grounded. I equate a lot of that to Mary's senior leadership. She's a fifth-year, but has had a consistent work ethic all the way through and everyone here has gotten a chance to see that and its well-respected both her work ethic and what she has to say."
Brooks brings two Big West Player of the Year awards, a Freshman of the Year award, and a conference tournament record number of goals from the 2017 competition which included a six-goal game making her the only player in program history with two such games. Brooks is also within shouting distance of the program's career scoring record standing 67 goals away from the current leader, Jessy Cardey, one goal higher than her season-high she set in 2017.
Riding the Wave
Surrounding Brooks is a roster full of depth, talent, and, despite just three seniors, a healthy amount of experience.
"Last year's experience provided was valuable for everyone. Newcomers got to see what postseason play was like, the intensity of a conference tournament or NCAA matches."
That postseason experience led to an underdog victory at the Big West Tournament and into a pressure-packed NCAA Tournament appearance led by Tara Prentice's 41 goals in her sophomore season. Big West Freshman of the Year Isabel Rack is also trending up after scoring 25 goals, and a class of sophomores along with her that combined for 53 goals in their first Anteater seasons.
The incoming class of freshmen is not as large as it was a year ago, but the impact in the pool will be just as strong led by the five-meter potential from Piper Smith and more attacking pieces ready to jump into the mix in Rylee Williams, Jessica Lynch, and Ariana Bockstahler.
The goalkeeper position is also a fierce competition between senior Jenna Phreaner and second-year talent Morgan Jones. The veteran cage presence of Phreaner took over in 2018 with a 4.06 goals-against-average and 187 saves. Jones proved her worth holding her own against the likes of USC, UCLA, and Cal. Phreaner and Jones each had impressive double-digit save performances with eight and three, respectively, with high games of 16 from Phreaner (vs. Hartwick) and 15 from Jones (vs. USC)
Fast and Furious
"We start fast, we play two teams on our first day that made the NCAA Tournament last year in UCLA and Wagner."
Coach Klatt sees the first weekend of action up in Santa Barbara as an intriguing test out of the gate. A pair of NCAA Tournament-caliber squads will be who the Anteaters are pitted against early on, and the 'Eaters square off with the Bruins twice within the first month for a chance to finally get the program's first career win over the storied class of collegiate water polo which includes Stanford and USC.
Inviting the Challenge
The 'Eaters will really see how they stack up in the mid-season invitationals in the month of February, first at UC San Diego and finishing with the pride of the collegiate water polo season, the Barbara Kalbus Invitational at UC Irvine.
UC Irvine battled it out at the 2018 Triton Invite falling by a total of three goals in losses to USC and Arizona State. The 2018 Kalbus was a rough road for the 'Eaters finishing eighth behind a loss in the grudge match with Arizona State and an overtime loss to Pacific. The experience once again served vital helping the squad toward its late run finishing on a 10-5 run to reach the postseason
Bigger and Better
The Big West Conference more than ever is wide open amongst its six women's water polo programs. The 'Eaters scratched and clawed through the competition in 2018 falling during the regular season to Hawai'i and UC Davis before finding three tournament wins. Coach Klatt understands the level of competition in the Big West will remain high in 2019.
"Our conference is going to be tight as usual. I don't have any expectation for any huge wins or huge losses. I expect to play every game to within a one or two-goal margin."
Many of the squads in the Big West return a majority of their impact players with Hawai'i, coming off a 21-5 record and Big West regular season title, entering as the class of the conference. The Big West has seen different regular season champs in each of the last three seasons, and in three of the last four years, the representative in the NCAA Tournament has not been the regular season champion. The 2019 Big West Tournament will take place at Long Beach State in late April with the winner earning an automatic berth to the NCAA Championships being held at Avery Aquatic Center at Stanford University
Gaucho Invite
Campus Pool - Santa Barbara, Calif.
Saturday, January 19, 2019
No. 3 UCLA Bruins (0-0) vs. No. 6 UC Irvine Anteaters (0-0)
9:45 AM - Campus Pool - Santa Barbara, Calif.
No. 14 Wagner Seahawks (0-0) vs. No. 6 UC Irvine Anteaters (0-0)
3:15 PM - Campus Pool - Santa Barbara, Calif.
Weekend Information
- The 'Eaters open the season tied for sixth in the nation alongside Hawai'i
- The 2018 Anteaters began the season ranked seventh, its highest rank to open a season was fifth in 2016
- UC Irvine has opened the season as the No. 6 team six times in that last eight seasons
- The Anteaters are 13-5 in season openers including wins in each of its last two
- UCI's last five seasons have opened with either San Jose State or Cal Baptist
- The 'Eaters open the season on a neutral site, the program is 135-92 all-time in neutral site matches
- Mary Brooks returns to the fold in 2019 with 157 career goals scored, eighth-most in program history. She stands 67 goals away from the top spot held by Jessy Cardey with 224. Brooks would reach the mark with a pace of nearly 2.5 goals per match
- Jenna Phreaner enters her senior season with 388 saves, fourth all-time among Anteater keepers. With 12 saves, she will become the fourth 'Eater goalie with 400 career saves
- The program enters its 19th season with a record of 326 wins. UCI could reach 350 wins with a 24-win season in 2019, something the team has accomplished twice (2012, 2014)
- UC Irvine women's water polo has scored 4,776 goals in program history standing 224 goals away from 5,000 in program history. The 'Eaters have scored 224 goals in a season in 14 of 18 seasons including each season since coach Klatt took over as head coach
- Head Coach Dan Klatt enters his 15th season as head coach of UC Irvine posting 277 wins. He will reach 300 career head coaching wins with a 23-win season in 2019, something his squads have accomplished five times (2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2017)
- The 'Eaters took UCLA to overtime in 2018 falling 8-7 at home. This coming a year after a pair of 16-1 defeats to the Bruins
- The result was the fifth of two goals or less between the programs
- UC Irvine has opened the season against UCLA once, a 16-4 loss at UCLA in 2002
- UCLA will begin its 2019 season the day before with an afternoon matchup against CSUN
- A year ago, UCLA finished 23-8 falling in the NCAA Semifinals
- The Bruins is picked to finish third in the MPSF behind other power programs, Stanford and USC
- The 'Eaters are winless in 75 all-time matchups against Stanford, UCLA, and USC with 24 defeats to the Bruins
- UCLA returns its top three scorers, Maddie Musselman (53), Lizette Rozeboom (44), and Bronte Halligan (31)
- Netminder Carlee Kapana also returns in net after 180 saves and a 6.14 goals-against-average
- The Anteaters have faced off with Wagner just once in their histories, an 11-4 home victory in 2002
- UCI is 4-0 all-time against MAAC opponents with a pair of wins over Marist and one over Iona in four all-time matchups
- Wagner is 3-8 all-time against Big West programs aside from the 'Eaters
- Wagner has won the last five conference titles in the MAAC and are the preseason favorites to win the MAAC this year
- Erica Hardy reined in preseason MAAC Player of the Year honors after putting home 85 goals and 60 assists a year ago
Head Coach Dan Klatt - "We set up our Fall as best as we can. We hosted two Fall invitationals and those allow us to get more people looks. China is physical, they're professional players so its a great advantage for us."
The Anteaters grew even more in their fall tournaments which each included the Chinese National Team as well as their international exemption match last weekend.
Senior Statement
The 2019 season is the return of Mary Brooks who utilized her red-shirt season in 2018. Brooks' scoring presence where she's scored over 50 goals in each of her last competitive seasons was missed last season as the 'Eaters' depth-laden roster produced a high scorer of 41 goals.
Coach Klatt has his eye on more than just her athletic abilities. "Team comradery is very strong, they look out for each other in both ways - picking players up in rough times and keeping everyone grounded. I equate a lot of that to Mary's senior leadership. She's a fifth-year, but has had a consistent work ethic all the way through and everyone here has gotten a chance to see that and its well-respected both her work ethic and what she has to say."
Brooks brings two Big West Player of the Year awards, a Freshman of the Year award, and a conference tournament record number of goals from the 2017 competition which included a six-goal game making her the only player in program history with two such games. Brooks is also within shouting distance of the program's career scoring record standing 67 goals away from the current leader, Jessy Cardey, one goal higher than her season-high she set in 2017.
Riding the Wave
Surrounding Brooks is a roster full of depth, talent, and, despite just three seniors, a healthy amount of experience.
"Last year's experience provided was valuable for everyone. Newcomers got to see what postseason play was like, the intensity of a conference tournament or NCAA matches."
That postseason experience led to an underdog victory at the Big West Tournament and into a pressure-packed NCAA Tournament appearance led by Tara Prentice's 41 goals in her sophomore season. Big West Freshman of the Year Isabel Rack is also trending up after scoring 25 goals, and a class of sophomores along with her that combined for 53 goals in their first Anteater seasons.
The incoming class of freshmen is not as large as it was a year ago, but the impact in the pool will be just as strong led by the five-meter potential from Piper Smith and more attacking pieces ready to jump into the mix in Rylee Williams, Jessica Lynch, and Ariana Bockstahler.
The goalkeeper position is also a fierce competition between senior Jenna Phreaner and second-year talent Morgan Jones. The veteran cage presence of Phreaner took over in 2018 with a 4.06 goals-against-average and 187 saves. Jones proved her worth holding her own against the likes of USC, UCLA, and Cal. Phreaner and Jones each had impressive double-digit save performances with eight and three, respectively, with high games of 16 from Phreaner (vs. Hartwick) and 15 from Jones (vs. USC)
Fast and Furious
"We start fast, we play two teams on our first day that made the NCAA Tournament last year in UCLA and Wagner."
Coach Klatt sees the first weekend of action up in Santa Barbara as an intriguing test out of the gate. A pair of NCAA Tournament-caliber squads will be who the Anteaters are pitted against early on, and the 'Eaters square off with the Bruins twice within the first month for a chance to finally get the program's first career win over the storied class of collegiate water polo which includes Stanford and USC.
Inviting the Challenge
The 'Eaters will really see how they stack up in the mid-season invitationals in the month of February, first at UC San Diego and finishing with the pride of the collegiate water polo season, the Barbara Kalbus Invitational at UC Irvine.
UC Irvine battled it out at the 2018 Triton Invite falling by a total of three goals in losses to USC and Arizona State. The 2018 Kalbus was a rough road for the 'Eaters finishing eighth behind a loss in the grudge match with Arizona State and an overtime loss to Pacific. The experience once again served vital helping the squad toward its late run finishing on a 10-5 run to reach the postseason
Bigger and Better
The Big West Conference more than ever is wide open amongst its six women's water polo programs. The 'Eaters scratched and clawed through the competition in 2018 falling during the regular season to Hawai'i and UC Davis before finding three tournament wins. Coach Klatt understands the level of competition in the Big West will remain high in 2019.
"Our conference is going to be tight as usual. I don't have any expectation for any huge wins or huge losses. I expect to play every game to within a one or two-goal margin."
Many of the squads in the Big West return a majority of their impact players with Hawai'i, coming off a 21-5 record and Big West regular season title, entering as the class of the conference. The Big West has seen different regular season champs in each of the last three seasons, and in three of the last four years, the representative in the NCAA Tournament has not been the regular season champion. The 2019 Big West Tournament will take place at Long Beach State in late April with the winner earning an automatic berth to the NCAA Championships being held at Avery Aquatic Center at Stanford University
Players Mentioned
Utility
/ Women's Water Polo
Utility
/ Women's Water Polo
Goalkeeper
/ Women's Water Polo
Attacker
/ Women's Water Polo
Goalkeeper
/ Women's Water Polo
Utility
/ Women's Water Polo
Utility
/ Women's Water Polo
Center
/ Women's Water Polo
Attacker
/ Women's Water PoloAnteater Spotlights | Ep. 13 | Pippa Heaver
Wednesday, May 13
UC Irvine Water Polo | Ted Newland Endowment & Pool Naming Project
Monday, April 20
UCI Women's Water Polo | 2026 Big West Quarterfinals | 04.10.2026 | Postgame Interview
Saturday, April 11
Murphy making 'em pay 💯
Monday, March 23
