IRVINE, Calif. – No. 9 UC Irvine men's water polo (9-7) kicked off their five game home stand with a 21-12 victory over Concordia (2-14).
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>UC Irvine out-shot Concordia, 35-29
>14 Anteaters had shot attempts
>UCI's last scored 20+ points in a game in Sept. 2021
>Zayd Mahmoud earned the start in goal, making one save along with one assist and two steals
>Garrett Selby entered the game in the third period, making one save
>Aidan Byrne made his first appearance of the season in the cage for the Anteaters for the final period
>Three Anteaters notched hat-tricks—Ethan Shipman (3-3, two assists, and one steal), Dylan Patist (4-7, two assists, and two steals), and Luka Krstic (4-4, two steals)
>Zlatan Nikocevic led all players in assists with three
>Samuel Otta, Tyler Padua, and Ryan Greenlee recorded two goals each in the contest
>Jack Stevens, Stewart Campbell, Zachary Baxter, and Solan Kedzie all chipped in with one goal apiece
>CUI was led by Austin Wade, notching three goals on four shots, three assists, and one steal

FIRST PERIOD
>UCI started quickly with four unanswered goals by Tyler Padua (7:25), Dylan Patist (6:14), Ethan Shipman (5:47) and Luca Krstic (5:20) before the Eagles got on the board
>CUI had three straight (4:13, 3:08, 2:12), to get back into it 4-3
>Ethan Shipman stopped the momentum with a goal on the left side at 1:52 and Patist added another on the power play with 35 seconds remaining in the quarter, 6-3
>Krstic stole the ball mid-pool then swam the length of the pool depositing the ball over the goalie on a one-on-one with seven seconds left for the final score of the period, 7-3

SECOND PERIOD
>UCI started quickly again as Stewart Campbell passed the ball across the pool to the waiting Patist who buried it in the back of the cage at 7:42
>With a man advantage, Patist scored up top on an assist from Zachary Baxter at 5:41, 9-3
>Solan Kedzie took a pass from Zlatan Nikocevic and scored at 3:15, 10-3
>The Eagles would stopped the scoring draught with back-to-back goals by Austin Wade at 2:31 and 1:58, 10-5
>Jack Stevens fired a skip shot for a goal on the right side with 34 seconds remaining, 11-5

THIRD PERIOD
>Shipman would score to open the scoring at 6:25, 12-5
>Concordia answered with goals by Jacob Stuart (6:25) and Shaine Sargis (5:27), 12-7
>Thomas Cass sent a bullet across to Baxter who scored at 3:21 before Concordia tipped the ball in the cage at 2:09, 13-8
>After an exclusion, Ryan Greenlee passed the ball quickly to Tyler Padua at set and he scored at 1:49
>Wade scored again for CUI to make it 14-9 at 1:11
>With nine seconds on the clock, Greenlee scored to end the period, 15-9

FOURTH PERIOD
>Greenlee would score again to start the final stanza at 6:43 followed by a power play goal from Campbell at 5:50, 17-9
>A pair of Krstic goals (3:31, 2:53) were sandwiched between Concordia goals at 3:59 and 2:31, 19-11
>Samuel Otta put the Anteaters 20^th goal away at 1:07 then after an Eagle goal (0:51), Otta scored again with 26 seconds left, 21-12

UP NEXT
UCI will entertain No. 1 Stanford on Friday (Oct. 7) at 7:00 p.m.