Anteaters Fall at No. 11 UC Santa Barbara

Saturday, October 22

Santa Barbara, CA

12 p.m.

UC Irvine

11-9, 1-1

UC Santa Barbara

11-11, 1-1

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
UC Irvine	2	2	1	1	6
UC Santa Barbara	2	3	1	5	11

Photo by: Matt Brown

Anteaters Fall at No. 11 UC Santa Barbara

October 22, 2022 | Men's Water Polo

Box Score

By: Alex Roberts-Croteau

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – No. 8 UC Irvine men's water polo headed up to No. 11 UC Santa Barbara Saturday afternoon dropping their match at Campus Pool, 11-6.

The match played out tight and defensive with the 'Eaters trailing by just a goal heading into the final period before UCSB went on a late run of goals. UCI remains above .500 with an 11-9 record on the season, but even up at 1-1 in Golden Coast Conference Play, The Gauchos even their record at 11-11.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>UCI's Ethan Shipman led all players with 10 shot attempts. He and Dylan Patist each scored twice to lead the Anteaters
>Shipman and Stewart Campbell each topped the day with two steals for the 'Eaters
>Zlatan Nikocevic and Jack Stevens each added goals
>Samuel Otta had the lone assist for UCI helping on the sixth and final goal
>Goalkeeper Jacob Pyle stopped eight shots on the match while also collecting a steal
>UCI had 39 shots to 28 for UCSB
>The Anteaters went 3-for-10 on the power play and stifled UCSB allowing one goal in 11 opportunities
>UCI's scoring was held under 10 goals for the first time in 12 matches

FIRST PERIOD
>UCI won the opening sprint and scoring in the first minute of play by Dylan Patist cleaning up after Jake Liechty hit the crossbar
>The Gauchos took the lead on goals at 4:43 and 3:54 left in the first period to go up, 2-1
>Ethan Shipman evened things back up with 2:33 to play on the power play
>Jacob Pyle made four saves in the final two minutes of the first quarter to keep things tied 2-2

SECOND PERIOD
>UC Irvine took the lead back on Dylan Patist's goal at 7:18
>UCSB tied things back up less than a minute later, 3-3 at 6:21
>Ethan Shipman scored his second for a 4-3 lead at 4:42
>UCI quickly answered with a goal by Jackson Matos at 3:45, 5-4
>The Gauchos failed to convert a penalty shot next, but ultimately evened the match back up at 4-4 with 3:37 left in the half, and then stole the lead before the whistle to go up 5-4 with just 19 seconds to go

THIRD PERIOD
>Zlatan Nikocevic opened the second half scoring at 6:53 to make it 5-5
>Scoring halted until 2:45 left in the period as UC Santa Barbara took the lead back 6-5
>The period ended with UCI unsuccessful on their final nine possessions with seven missed shots and two turnovers to trail, 6-5, heading into the fourth period

FOURTH PERIOD
>The final period began with Jack Stevens' third sprint win of the day
>A yellow card and turnover gave the ball to UCSB who would open up a two-goal lead, 7-5, with 7:07 to play
>The Gauchos turned on the jets scoring at 5:04, 4:07, and 3:09 in consecutive possessions to go up, 11-5
>The scoring ended at 1:28 in the match as Jack Stevens scored on Samuel Otta's assist for an 11-6 score

UP NEXT
The 'Eaters are back in the pool Sunday, October 23, as they host Air Force with opening sprint at 1:00 p.m.