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Big West Championships
April 26-28
Big West Tournament Page | Big West Tournament Program

No. 1 seed UC Irvine Anteaters (18-8, 3-1)
vs. No. 4 UC Santa Barbara/No. 5 Long Beach State
Saturday, April 27 | 1:00 PM – Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center – Long Beach, Calif.
Live stats | Live Video | Tickets
 
Big West Tournament Overview

• No. 1 seed UC Irvine (18-8, 3-1) earns a first-round bye and will head straight to the semifinals Saturday, April 27 at Ken Lindgren Aquatic Center
• The Anteaters will play the winner of fourth-seeded UC Santa Barbara (20-7, 3-2) and fifth-seeded Long Beach State (15-14, 1-4) at 1 p.m. on Saturday
• If UCI wins, it will play in the championship game Sunday, April 28 at 2 p.m. If the Anteater lose, they will play in the third-place match Sunday at noon
• Hawaii is the second seed (16-5, 4-1) while UC Davis is third (17-11, 3-2). CSUN finished last in the conference (14-17, 0-5)
• All matches will feature live stats via the FOSH and live video (BigWest.tv)
• The tournament winner will receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships

History at the Big West Tournament

• The Anteaters have won the Championship seven times, (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2018) the most out of any Big West school
• Last season, UCI earned its seventh Championship title after upsetting top-seeded Hawaii, 8-7, in sudden-death overtime. Jenna Phreaner was named the Tournament MVP as she notched eight saves against the 'Bows and 19 total on the weekend. Tara Prentice and Megan Falcon had two goals apiece
• UCI has met UH three times in the Big West Championship finals as all three meetings were decided in overtime
• UCI has won the Big West Tournament two years in a row, as both times were decided in sudden-death overtime

A Look at the Tournament Field

• UH is the second-seed and ranks fifth nationally. The 'Bows only conference loss came against UCI, 7-6, at Anteater Aquatics Complex
• UC Davis, the third-seed, had conference losses against UH and UCI during the regular-season
• UCSB handed UCI its only conference loss of the season, 6-5, however, the 'Eaters beat the Gauchos on two other occasions this season. UCSB dropped conference matches to UC Davis and Hawaii
• Fifth-seed LBSU is riding a four-game losing streak and only has a Big West win against CSUN
• The Matadors went 0-5 in the conference this season

UCI Tournament Records Against Big West Opponents

• Vs. CSUN – 4-0
• Vs. LBSU – 5-0
• Vs. UCD – 8-0
• Vs. UCSB – 1-1
• Vs. UH – 1-2

Regular-Season Finale

• UCI clinched a share of the Big West regular-season championship after defeating No. 13 Long Beach State, 10-7
• Tara Prentice finished with a game-high four goals while Mary Brooks and Jessica Lynch each scored twice
• Morgan Jones had five saves and three steals in the cage
• UCI jumped out to a 4-1 lead but LBSU closed the gap making it 6-5 after the third quarter
• The 'Eaters pulled away with four goals in the fourth quarter to seal the win

Team Notes

• Mary Brooks notched her 200^th career goal against UC Davis Sunday, April 7. She now has 205 goals in her career, which is tied for fourth all-time at UCI
• 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 67 goals scored this season. She tied a career-high five goals on three occasions this season including against CSUN on Feb. 23, Mar. 30 and UC Davis on April 7
• Mary Brooks posted a season-high five against Azusa Pacific, and has 48 goals on the season
• Freshman Piper Smith stands third on the team with 41 goals. She has recorded the high or a share of the high in goals eight times
• Brooks was named the Big West Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 20
• Morgan Jones is now up to 156 saves this season for a goals against average of 6.5 per game
• Jones was named the Big West Player of the Week on April 10
• There are 11 Anteaters with double digit goals for the year and seven 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 returned to No. 6 in the nation after beating No. 4 Hawaii and No. 9 UC Davis and now sits at No. 7
•  The Anteaters fell to No. 3 UCLA, 10-6, to start 2019 moving its record to 13-6 all-time in season openers

Record Pursuit

• Mary Brooks returned to the fold in 2019 with 157 career goals scored, seventh-most in program history. She currently at 205 on her career. Should Brooks reach 67 goals this season, which she's 19 goals away from, she'll claim the top spot held by Jessy Cardey with 224
• Tara Prentice's 67 goals this season are 2nd all-time in a single-season
• 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)

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.