LA JOLLA, Calif. – Third-seeded UC Irvine held off a fourth quarter comeback attempt from No. 2 seed UC San Diego to secure a 12-11 win in a Big West Tournament semifinal, Saturday at Canyonview Aquatics Center.

UCI, ranked seventh nationally, improves to 12-7 on the season. The Anteaters will meet top-seeded, No. 6 Hawai'i in the championship game tomorrow at 12 p.m. The winner will earn the automatic bid to the 2021 NCAA Championships.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> Calysa Toledo finished with a hat trick scoring a team-best three goals
> Jessica Lynch and Megan Falcon each tallied two goals while Sarah Nichols, Toni Shackelford, Piper Smith, Kayleigh Schultz and Danielle Ayala had one apiece
> Morgan Jones played all four quarter in goal, finishing with nine saves and a .450 save percentage
> UCSD was led by Cierra Franke with four goals while Bennett Bugelli made nine stops in the cage
> UCI went 5-of-9 on powerplays while UCSD was 5-of-10 on extraman opportunities
> UCSD out-shot UCI 29-25

QUARTER ONE
> Smith got the 'Eaters on the board first before UCSD quickly answered with a goal at 5:35
> The teams exchanged back-and-forth goals as the game was tied, 3-3, with 1:21 to play
> The Tritons' Karis Couch scored with 56 remaining to give UCSD a 4-3 edge

QUARTER TWO
> The Anteaters offense came alive in the second quarter as UCI outscored UCSD, 6-1
> Ayala struck first at 7:20 followed by two goals from Toledo to put UCI up, 6-4
> UCSD scored at 3:00 before the Anteaters fired in three unanswered goals from Schultz, Falcon and Lynch, respectively to take a 9-5 lead at the intermission

QUARTER THREE
> Falcon scored on a powerplay at 6:29 to make it 10-5
> UCSD fired in back-to-back goals before Shackelford scored at 4:33 as UCI led, 11-7
> Nichols added a goal for the 'Eaters before the Tritons' Tera Richardson scored with 1:32 remaining

QUARTER FOUR
> UCI was held scoreless in the final frame
> UCSD added to goals to make it 12-11 with 1:25 to play
> The Tritons were unable to break the Anteater defense as UCI held on for the victory

NOTES
> UCI improves to 23-3 at the Big West Tournament
> UCI and UH will meet in the championship for the third year in a row
> The Anteaters are riding a three game win streak
> UCI and UH will meet for the fifth time this season