'Eaters Head To GCC Tournament, Face Fifth-Seeded Pepperdine

Friday, November 18

Santa Barbara, CA

5 p.m.

UC Irvine

Pepperdine

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'Eaters Head To GCC Tournament, Face Fifth-Seeded Pepperdine

November 17, 2022 | Men's Water Polo

By: Jordan Kehoe

IRVINE, Calif.-- The UC Irvine men's water polo finds themselves matched up against No. 9 Pepperdine for the third time this season, this time for the first round of the GCC Tournament.

Week Twelve Notes

THIS WEEKEND
No. 13 UC Irvine vs. No.9 Pepperdine
Friday, Nov. 18 | 5:00 p.m. | Campus Pool (at UC Santa Barbara)
Tournament Central | Tickets | Live Stats | Video

THIS WEEKS STORYLINES
> UC Irvine finished the regular season with a 15-12 overall record, the best finish from the program since the 2017 season
> The Anteaters finished conference play at 2-3 also posting their best conference finish in five years
> The Golden Coast Conference named Ethan Shipman the Newcomer of the Year
> Shipman was named to the All-Conference Second Team, Tyler Padua to the Honorable Mention squad, and Jackson Matos to the All-Freshman list
> UCI heads to the GCC Tournament that will be hosted at UC Santa Barbara and will face the fifth seeded Pepperdine on Friday Nov. 18
> No. 9 Pepperdine is coming off a 13-12 win to No. 8 UC Santa Barbara this past weekend
> The Waves enter the postseason with a 13-13 overall record
> Both UCI and Pepperdine have 2-3 records in GCC play
> The game between UCI and Pepperdine will mark the 128th overall meeting between the two teams
> UCI defeated Pepperdine 15-14 in overtime at the MPSF Invitational earlier this season and just recently beat them 12-10 in Irvine

WEEKEND RECAP
> UC Irvine outshot their opponents 64-62
> Three Anteaters notched hat-tricks
> Zlatan Nikocevic led the team over the weekend with seven goals on 15 shots, two assist, and three steals
> Nikocevic went 5-10 in the win over Whittier
> Ryan Greenlee went a perfect 5-5 against the Poets along with two assist and two steals
> Grant Chiponis earned the hat-trick on his senior day going 3-7 and added one assist and a steal
> Nick Rogers added to the offensive momentum with two goals, five shots, two assists, and three steals
> Dylan Patist tallied two goals, six shots, two assists, and two steals on the weekend
> All four UCI goalkeepers saw action over the two games