No. 10 UCI Spends Week at No.2 Stanford, No. 21 CSUN

Monday, March 25

Stanford, CA

12:30 PM on Pac-12 Network

UC Irvine

Stanford

No. 10 UCI Spends Week at No.2 Stanford, No. 21 CSUN

March 22, 2019 | Women's Water Polo

By: Alex Croteau

FOLLOW THE ANTEATERS

Monday, March 25, 2019
No. 10 UC Irvine Anteaters (12-7, 0-1)
at No. 2 Stanford Cardinal (12-1, 2-0
12:30 PM - Avery Aquatic Center - Stanford, Calif.
Pac-12 Network | Live stats

Saturday, March 30, 2019
No. 10 UC Irvine Anteaters (13-7, 0-1)
at No. 21 CSUN Matadors (13-13, 0-1)
12:00 PM - Matador Pool - Northridge, Calif.

Follow Along

The Monday match at Avery Aquatics Center will be broadcasted on the Pac-12 Network. Fans can tune in to Pac-12 Network and Pac-12 Bay Area at 12:30 p.m.. Live Stream available at pac-12.com or on the Pac-12 Now app

Weekend at a Glance

After taking a break with finals week, UC Irvine plays two matches after a layoff of 10 days between matches
UC Irvine and Stanford are meeting for the 24th time in their histories, and the Cardinal have won all 23 up to this point
The teams squared off twice in 2018 with Stanford winning by five and six goals, respectively. In the 23 all-time matchups, UCI's closest margin of defeat has been three goals, at Stanford in 2006. UCI has lost by double digits just four times in the series and only twice in the last 21 meetings
UCI and CSUN will meet for the 35th time all-time. UCI holds the 30-4 edge with wins in 17 straight. The 'Eaters last lost in 2010 at CSUN in overtime
The teams squared up three times last year with UCI winning by 10 or more goals in each match. They have met once already in 2019 with the Anteaters narrowly winning, 12-8, in the second game of the Barbara Kalbus Invite busting out for a 5-2 goal advantage in the final quarter thanks to a five-goal day from Tara Prentice and Alyssa Schulte's best game in net with six saves

Last Week Tonight

The Anteaters last played on March 15 on the road at No. 25 San Diego State with a 13-8 victory
UCI shutout SDSU in the first quarter scoring the match's first four goals and six of the first seven
UCI led 7-3 at the half with Mary Brooks, Piper Smith, and Tara Prentice each contributing a pair of goals
The Anteaters stormed out for a five-goal third quarter to open up a 12-4 lead before the Aztecs cut it back to a 13-8 final from a fourth quarter effort
Smith finished with four goals to top the team, Brooks and Prentice each captured a hat trick. Isabel Rack scored twice and Raegan Castillo put home a goal as well
Morgan Jones equaled her season high of saves with 13
The Anteaters improved to 26-14 all-time against the Aztecs having won nine straight in the series and four consecutive at SDSU

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 47 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 37 goals on the season
Freshman Piper Smith stands third on the team with 36 goals. She has record the high or a share of the high in goals seven times now after the performance Friday
Morgan Jones is now up to 108 saves this season for an average of six per game and 8.47 per 32 minutes
There are nine Anteaters with double digit goals for the year and six different Anteaters have notched a hat trick
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 has dropped to 10th in this week's national poll for the second straight week
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 Cardinal

Stanford is the head of the class in NCAA Women's Water Polo with six national titles, 15 times reaching the national final, and five conference titles. Stanford has been in the championship game in each of the last nine years winning five of them and most recently in 2017
The Cardinal are 12-1 and ranked second in the nation entering the week. It will host No. 18 Harvard Saturday beford the 'Eaters come calling
Stanford's only loss came in the finale of the Barbara Kalbus Invitational falling, 10-8, to No. 1 USC. Since that game on February 24, Stanford has played just twice in the month of March, and its match against Harvard will be its first in 14 days.
In three matches against the Big West, the Cardinal have won by an average of 15.3 goals taking down LBSU, UC Davis, and CSUN.
Makenzie Fisher paces the squad with 50 goals including nine hat tricks, six goals in four matches, and a single game best eight goals in the win over Michigan. She's currently 10th in program history at 171 with a chance to jump to eighth this week.
Stanford has four other 20-goal scorers including Sarah Klass who had scored in every match until the last won at Arizona State
Stanford netminders have only needed to make 99 saves on the season with 10 or more in a match four times. Emalia Eichelberger and Thea Walsh have split time in net evenly with 24 quarters each. Eichelberger has started the more meaningful matches against Michigan, UCLA, USC, and Arizona State, and has the lead in saves (54) and the only 10-save match for any goalie this season while Walsh has a 5.00 goals-against-average to lead the squad taking the torch in wins against Fresno State, Cal, Pacific, and Santa Clara.

More on the Matadors

CSUN is an even 13-13 losing its most recent match to Long Beach State, 10-8, in their Big West opener
The Matadors will travel to Hawai'i prior to hosting UCI for a matchup March 23
CSUN was winless in conference in 2018 posting a 15-18 record overall
Three of CSUN's 13 wins this year have come against ranked competition - No. 22 SDSU, No. 23 Cal Baptist, and No. 20 Indiana
Tori Wilson runs the offense with 54 goals including eight hat tricks and a high of six goals in the win against CBU. She also tops the squad with 33 steals and 37 turnovers.
Four other Matadors have as many as 20 goals including Jennalyn Barthels who brings 29 goals along with team highs in assists (33) and blocks (11). Madasonne Butler is second on the team with 31 goals while earning the most exclusions at 60
Emma Pfister has played all but 64 minutes in the cage stopping 8.23 shots per game while posting a 9.05 goals-against-average

Record Pursuit

Mary Brooks returned to the fold in 2019 with 157 career goals scored, seventh-most in program history. She currently stands six goals from 200 on her career. Should Brooks reach 67 goals this season, which she's 30 goals away from, she'll claim the top spot held by Jessy Cardey with 224.
Morgan Jones became the 11th Anteater with 100 career saves in the last match at San Diego State. She also passed Kelly Woodbury to now stand 10th in the all-time rankings.
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 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