LONG BEACH, Calif. – The top-seeded UC Irvine women's water polo team used a strong defensive effort to topple fourth-seeded UC Santa Barbara, 5-2, Saturday at Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center.

UCI, ranked seventh nationally, (19-8) advances to the Big West Championship Game tomorrow at 2 p.m. The Anteaters will play second-seeded, No. 5 Hawai'i. The winner will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.

UCSB (20-8) will play UC Davis (17-12) in the third-place game tomorrow at noon.  

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Tara Prentice and Toni Shackelford led the Anteaters with two goals apiece
> Isabel Rack finished with one goal
> Morgan Jones made nine saves and only allowed two goals for a .818 save percentage
> Mary Brooks grabbed four steals while Piper Smith snagged three
> UCI out-shot UCSB 29-20. The 'Eaters were 0-3 in powerplay situations while the Gauchos went 1-9
> Amanda Legaspi and Caitlyn Snyder each had a goal for UCSB while goalkeeper Kenzi Snyder made 15 saves

QUARTER ONE
> Neither team would find the back of the net as the game remained 0-0 after the first quarter
> Morgan Jones made three saves while the Gauchos' Snyder had four  

QUARTER TWO
> Defense continued to shine for both teams as the game remained scoreless after 15 minutes of action
> UCSB broke the scoring drought with a powerplay goal at 24 seconds and took a 1-0 lead at halftime

QUARTER THREE
> Shackelford got the 'Eaters on the board and tied things up, 1-1, after firing in a goal off a pass from Brooks at 3:25
> Rack put UCI up 2-1 with a goal at 22 seconds
> The 'Eater defense did not allow the Gauchos to score in the frame

QUARTER FOUR
> UCI made it 3-1 after Prentice scored on a five-meter penalty shot (7:24)
> UCSB fired in goal at 3:33 to make it a one-goal, 3-2, game
> Prentice answered, scoring from long range to give UCI a 4-2 lead (2:48)
> Shackelford sealed the win, scoring with under a minute to play (:54) to give UCI the 5-2 victory

NOTES
> UCI improves to 22-3 at the Big West Tournament 
> Tara Prentice has a team-best 69 goals 
> UCI and UH will meet in the championship for the second year in a row
> The Anteaters are riding a six-game winning streak