No. 6 UCI Falls in Season-Opener to No. 3 UCLA, 10-6

Saturday, January 19

Santa Barbara, CA

9:45 AM

UC Irvine

UCLA

No. 6 UCI Falls in Season-Opener to No. 3 UCLA, 10-6

January 19, 2019 | Women's Water Polo

By: Sarah Zetlmeisl

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The sixth-ranked UC Irvine women's water polo team dropped its season-opener to No. 3 UCLA, 10-6, at the Gaucho Invite, Saturday morning.

UCI opens the season 0-1 while the Bruins start 1-0.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Tara Prentice tallied a hat trick scoring a team-best three goals
> Mary Brooks, Piper Smith and Kayleigh Schultz each had one goals
> Toni Shackelford and Danielle Ayala each won a sprint
> Jenna Phreaner played all four quarters in goal for the 'Eaters
> Maddie Musselman led the Bruins with a game-high four goals
> UCLA scored two goals off penalty shots

Quarter One
> UCI jumped out to a 1-0 lead after Schultz scored with 5:49 remaining
> UCLA tied it up notching a goal just 30 second later (5:15) to make it 1-1
> The Bruins scored again with 2:32 left in the frame to take a 2-1 lead

Quarter Two
> UCLA scored first in the frame before Smith added a goal for the 'Eaters to make it 3-2 with 3:01 to play
> The Bruins added three goals to go up, 5-2, at the half

Quarter Three
> UCLA notched a goal to open up the frame (3:34) to take a four-goal, 6-2 lead
> Prentice scored to make it 6-3 at 2:35 but the Bruins answered with a goal at 2:05 to make it 7-3
> With 34 seconds remaining, Prentice fired in another goal to cut the lead, 7-4, but UCLA scored on a powerplay in the final second to take an 8-4 advantage into the final frame

Quarter Four
> The Bruins took a five-goal, 9-4, lead with six minutes left
> Prentice and Brooks notched back-to-back goals to cut the Bruin lead, 9-6, with four minutes to play
> UCLA scored the final goal with 3:06 remaining to win, 10-6

NOTES
> Piper Smith scored her first collegiate goal
> The Anteaters are 13-6 in season openers
> UCI remains winless against UCLA in program history

UP NEXT
> UCI will play its second game of the day against Wagner at 3:45 p.m.