No. 10 UCI Set For Top Competition at MPSF Invite

Friday, September 27

Los Angeles, Calif.

2:20 PM

UC Irvine

California

No. 10 UCI Set For Top Competition at MPSF Invite

September 26, 2019 | Men's Water Polo

By: Sarah Zetlmeisl

FOLLOW THE ANTEATERS
Tournament Central
No. 10 UC Irvine (5-2) vs. No. 7 Cal (7-3)
Friday, Sept. 27 | 2:20 p.m. | Spieker Aquatics Center
Live Stats

No. 10 UC Irvine vs. No. 2 UCLA/RV Pomona-Pitzer
Saturday, Sept. 28 | TBA
Live Stats

No. 10 UC Irvine vs. TBA
Saturday, Sept. 28 | TBA

No. 10 UC Irvine vs. TBA
Sunday, Sept. 29 |TBA

The 10th ranked UC Irvine Anteaters make their way to Los Angeles for the highly-competitive Mountain Pacific Invitational, Sept. 27-29. They are slated to open the tournament Friday afternoon against No. 7 Cal at UCLA's Spieker Aquatics Center at 2:20 p.m. Games will be played at Spieker Aquatics Center on the campus of UCLA and Burns Aquatics Center on the campus of LMU.

WEEKEND STORYLINES

UCI has spent two weeks at No. 10 in the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) national poll after starting the season ranked at No. 13
The 'Eaters are 5-2 on the season after defeating Concordia Irvine 12-10 last week
UCI and Cal will square off for the second time this season. The Bears won an 11-6 decision over the Anteaters at the Triton Invitational on Sept. 8
The Anteaters have won three straight games since their loss to Cal. The Bears three losses have come at the hands of UCSB, UC Davis and Pacific
The Bears offense is led by Safak Simsek with 26 goals followed by Nikolaos Papanikolaou with 23 goals. In goal, Adrian Weinberg has made 95 saves
The 16-field MPSF Tournament includes 14 teams ranked inside the top-20 of the CWPA national poll
No. 1 UC Santa Barbara (13-0) and No. 2 UCLA (6-0) are the only two undefeated teams left in the country
Head coach Marc Hunt earned his 200^th career win against Cal Baptist (Sept. 14)
Junior Jason Evezard set a new single-game school record against CBU scoring nine goals
The Alumni Game is set for 12 p.m. at Anteater Aquatics Complex on Saturday, Sept. 21

LAST TIME OUT

Jason Evezard finished with six goals in UCI's 12-10 win over Concordia Irvine
Evezard scored three goals in the fourth quarter including two made five-meter penalty shots to seal the Anteater win
Ian Fleenor added two goals, two assists and two steals while Harrison Land stopped 10 saves in the cage

SEASON TOP PERFORMERS

Evezard leads the Anteaters with 23 points (20 goals and three assists) while Casey Lynton is second on the team with 16 points (seven goals, nine assists)
Evezard and goalkeeper Harrison Land each have seven steals
Jon Polos has drawn a team-high nine exclusions
Harrison Land has started every game in goal, totaling 72 saves for a .537 save percentage

MORE ON THE ANTEATERS

UC Irvine returns three of its four leading scorers from a year ago including top-scorer and GCC Newcomer of the Year Jason Evezard (64 goals). GCC Honorable Mention selection Casey Lynton returns as the team's leader in assists (28) and steals (43). He also produced 34 goals last season. Seniors Jon Polos and Bryant Jourdie each contributed 24 and 22 goals, respectively
Other top returners include All-GCC Freshman Team honoree Zlatan Nikocevic (17 goals, 12 assists), seniors Ian Fleenor (12 goals, 13 assists), Foster Hoose (11 steals, four goals) and Sven Davidson (7 steals, three goals)
Overall, UCI returns 16 players and welcomes 9 newcomers. The 'Eaters lost 10 letter winners from a year ago
Head Coach Marc Hunt enters his 15^th season at the helm behind a 201-185 career record.
Fans will get seven chances to see the Anteaters play at home including their home opener against last year's NCAA runner-up Stanford on Oct. 13