Seniors Shine In Regular Season Finale

Saturday, November 12

Irvine, CA

4 p.m.

UC Irvine

15-12

Whittier

11-19

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Whittier	1	2	2	2	7
UC Irvine	7	6	3	4	20

Seniors Shine In Regular Season Finale

November 12, 2022 | Men's Water Polo

Box Score

By: Stacey Shackleford

IRVINE, Calif. -- UC Irvine seniors scored 10 goals in the Anteaters' 20-7 victory over Whittier in the final regular season contest at the Anteater Aquatics Center.

Senior Zlatan Nikocevic had a team-best five goals while senior Grant Chiponis added three and senior Nick Rogers had a career-high two goals and three assists in the win.

Nikocevic, who scored one of his goals from the middle of the pool, also had two assists and a steal.

GRANT CHIPONIS SAID
"It was fun to see everyone out. This class has gone through a lot and I'm happy to end it with them. I'm proud of what we have done over the years. There is a lot to look forward to in the new Dan Klatt era. I'm happy to end my career the way I did and hope to keep playing on and always support the Anteater program."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Ryan Greenlee matched Nikocevic with a team-high five goals, a career-high
>Samuel Otta added three goals, while Jack Stevens and Jake Liechty each had one
>A trio of Anteaters played in the cage with Aidan Byrne notching a team-best eight saves. Zayd Mahmoud made the start and totaled five saves, while Garrett Selby had three
>The Poets were led by Ricardo Reyes Jr., Ethan Saenz, and Patrick Seelhorst with two apiece

FIRST PERIOD
>Jack Stevens got UCI on the board with a goal at 6:07
>Following a Grant Chiponis goal at 5;24, senior Nick Rogers netted a pair of goals (4:52, 4:33) to give UCI the 4-0 lead
>Zlatan Nikocevic added his first goal of the day for UCI before the Poets notched their first goal of the game at 2:54
>Chiponis (1:49) and Jake Liechty (:59) would end the quarter with goals, 7-1

SECOND PERIOD
>After a Whittier goal (7:12), Chiponis hit his third of the game at 5:30
>Ryan Greenlee (4:51, 2:50) would score a pair of goals around one by Nikocevic, 11-2
>Samuel Otta would score twice helping UCI to a 13-2 lead at the half

THIRD PERIOD
>The teams were slow to start scoring in the second half with Nikocevic recording a goal at 4:15
>Whittier had a pair of goals, one on a power play, before Otta scored again (:36) followed by Greenlee with four seconds left on the clock, 16-5

FOURTH PERIOD
>Greenlee would score the next two UCI goals (7:13, 4:46), while Nikocevic would score the final two (2;34, 1:41), 20-7

UP NEXT
UC Irvine is the No. 4 seed for the Golden Coast Conference Tournament and will play No. 5 seed Pepperdine on Friday (Nov. 18) at 5:00 p.m at UC Santa Barbara's campus pool.