No. 10 Anteaters Face No. 5 USC

Saturday, October 5

Los Angeles, Calif.

1:00 PM

UC Irvine

USC

No. 10 Anteaters Face No. 5 USC

October 03, 2019 | Men's Water Polo

By: Sarah Zetlmeisl

FOLLOW THE ANTEATERS
No. 13 UC Irvine (6-5) vs. No. 5 USC (7-2)
Saturday, Oct. 5 | 1:00 p.m. | Uytengsu Aquatics Center
Live Stats

The 13th ranked UC Irvine Anteaters make their way to Los Angeles for a single game against No. 5 USC Saturday, Oct. 5 at Uytengsu Aquatics Center. The match is set to start at 1 p.m.

WEEKEND STORYLINES

UCI slipped to No. 13 in the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) national poll after ranking as high as No. 9. The 'Eaters started the season ranked at No. 13
The 'Eaters dropped to 6-5 on the season after finishing 1-3 last weekend at the MPSF Invite
UCI and defending National Champion USC will square off for the first time this season. The Trojans are 7-2 with losses to UCSB and Pacific
USC holds an 80-23 advantage in the all-time series against UCI. The Anteaters have lost 32-straight meetings against the Trojans including a 15-5 defeat last season
Junior Ivan Mercep's brother, Jacob Mercep, is the Trojans leading scorer with 23 goals this season. He is followed closely behind by Marin Dasic with 20 goals
Nic Porter is averaging 10.29 saves per game for USC in goal
Head coach Marc Hunt earned his 200^th career win against Cal Baptist (Sept. 14)
Junior Jason Evezard set a new single-game school record against CBU scoring nine goals

MPSF INVITE RECAP

UCI finished 12^th at the MPSF Invite after a 1-3 performance. The Anteaters picked up a win against Pomona-Pitzer but dropped contests to #7 Cal, #11 UCSD and #13 LMU
Jon Polos finished with a team-best eight goals over four games. The senior set a new career-high scoring four goals against Pomona-Pitzer and also drew nine exclusions
Jason Evezard tallied seven goals and dished out five assists
Harrison Land played the majority of the weekend in goal and notched 33 saves. Collin Winters saw action in goal against LMU, tallying seven saves

SEASON TOP PERFORMERS

Evezard leads the Anteaters with 35 points (27 goals and eight assists) while Casey Lynton is second on the team with 23 points (10 goals, 13 assists)
Lynton leads the team with 11 steals while he and Byrant Joudrie are tied with 13 assists apiece
Jon Polos has drawn a team-high 18 exclusions and has 11 goals
Harrison Land has started every game in goal, totaling 105 saves for a .500 save percentage

MORE ON THE ANTEATERS

UC Irvine returns three of its four leading scorers from a year ago including top-scorer and GCC Newcomer of the Year Jason Evezard (64 goals). GCC Honorable Mention selection Casey Lynton returns as the team's leader in assists (28) and steals (43). He also produced 34 goals last season. Seniors Jon Polos and Bryant Jourdie each contributed 24 and 22 goals, respectively
Other top returners include All-GCC Freshman Team honoree Zlatan Nikocevic (17 goals, 12 assists), seniors Ian Fleenor (12 goals, 13 assists), Foster Hoose (11 steals, four goals) and Sven Davidson (7 steals, three goals)
Overall, UCI returns 16 players and welcomes 9 newcomers. The 'Eaters lost 10 letter winners from a year ago
Head Coach Marc Hunt enters his 15^th season at the helm behind a 201-185 career record.
Fans will get seven chances to see the Anteaters play at home including their home opener against last year's NCAA runner-up Stanford on Oct. 13