Weekend at a Glance

• UC Irvine and San Diego State meet for the 40th time in women's water polo history
• UC Irvine won the last matchup in 2018, 7-4, and won the last matchup at SDSU, 9-7, which came in 2017
• UCI has the 25-14 edge in the all-time series including wins in eight straight matches and three straight at Aztec Aquaplex

Last Week Tonight

• The 'Eaters dropped two matches last week - at home to No. 1 USC, 11-5, and on the road to open conference play, 6-5, at No. 10 UC Santa Barbara
• Tara Prentice led all Anteater scorers with three goals last week, two coming against No. 1 USC
• Sarah Nichols and Piper Smith each chimed in with two goals
• Morgan Jones played in each game in net stopping 20 shots including 13 against No. 1 USC
• Mary Brooks and Megan Falcon each assisted on two goals over the week

Team Notes

• Tara Prentice was named the Big West Women's Water Polo Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 13 after leading the Anteaters at the Triton Invite with 10 goals. This was the first weekly honor for the 'Eaters this season
• Prentice leads UCI with 44 goals scored this season. She notched a career-high five goals against CSUN at the Barbara Kalbus Invite
• Mary Brooks posted a season-high five against Azusa Pacific and has 34 goals on the season
• Freshman Piper Smith has made a statement in her first season with the Anteaters. She has 31 goals and scored a career-high five goals against CSUN at the Barbara Kalbus Invite
• Alyssa Schulte played in goal for the first time in her career against Cal Baptist. She has 26 saves over seven games played this season
• Morgan Jones leads the 'Eaters with 103 saves and 376 minutes in goal
• The 'Eaters opened the season tied for sixth in the nation alongside Hawai'i, the sixth time in the last eight seasons opening at No. 6. UCI ranked 8th in this week's national poll
• The Anteaters fell to No. 3 UCLA, 10-6, to start 2019 moving its record to 13-6 all-time in season openers

More on the Aztecs

• San Diego State is 7-9 so far in the 2019 season with wins in four of its last six matches, and a 3-2 record at home
• SDSU fell last week to Azusa Pacific, 10-9, in its first Golden Coast Conference match of the year
• The Aztecs have produced wins over CSUN, Bucknell, and Pomona-Pitzer in overtime alongside tough losses to Long Beach State, San Jose State, and Marist
• Hannah Carrillo and Shelby Kraft lead the scoring attack for San Diego State, an offense that is 6-1 in matches it scores 10 or more goals in
• Maura Cantoni has patrolled the cage for the majority of the season

Record Pursuit

• Mary Brooks returned to the fold in 2019 with 157 career goals scored, seventh-most in program history. She currently stands nine goals from 200 on her career. Should Brooks reach 67 goals this season, which she's 33 goals away from, she'll claim the top spot held by Jessy Cardey with 224.
• 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 total of 326 wins. UCI could reach 350 wins with a 24-win season in 2019, something the team has accomplished twice (2012, 2014)
• Sarah Nichols' goal Thursday against No. 1 USC was the 224th for the program this season and the 5,000th in program history.
• 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)

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 years' 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.

Fall Roundup
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 it's 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.

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