No. 8 UC Irvine Falls To No. 1 USC

Thursday, March 7

Irvine, CA

6:00 PM

UC Irvine

USC

No. 8 UC Irvine Falls To No. 1 USC

March 07, 2019 | Women's Water Polo

By: Stacey Shackleford

IRVINE, Calif. – No. 8 UC Irvine slowed in the second half as No. 1 USC topped the Anteaters 11-5 in a non-conference game at the Anteater Aquatics Center.

UCI was out-scored 5-1 in the final two periods.

UCI snapped a five-game winning streak and goes to 12-6 overall. The Trojans remain undefeated, improving to 18-0.

HEAD COACH DAN KLATT SAID
"I think we competed really hard in the first half. For three quarters we played within a couple of goals of them, but that third quarter hurt us. We have struggled with having four quarters of good polo and when you play good teams you need to have all four quarters."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Goalkeeper Morgan Jones had a season-best 13 saves
>Tara Prentice had a team-high two goals
>Jessica Lynch, Sarah Nichols, Piper Smith also added goal for UCI
>Bayley Weber and Denise Mammolito led the Trojans with two goals apiece

FIRST PERIOD
>Tara Prentice started the scoring with a goal on a pass from Megan Falcon at 5:32
>USC would score the final three goals of the quarter to take a 3-1 lead

SECOND PERIOD
>Goals by Sarah Nichols (6:43) and Prentice (5:16) would knot the score at 3-3
>Another three goals spurt for USC was followed by a penalty shot by Jessica Lynch with 46 seconds left in the half, 6-4

THIRD PERIOD
>USC shutout UCI while scoring four goals to take a 10-4 lead

FOURTH PERIOD
>A goal by Piper Smith from Mary Brooks at 6:21 started the final period
>A final goal by USC's Bayley Weber at 5:28 ended the scoring, 11-5

NOTES
>Prentice increases her team leading goal total to 43
>Only five teams have scored five goals off the Trojans this year

UP NEXT
>UCI opens Big West action at No. 10 UC Santa Barbara Saturday (Mar.9) beginning at noon.