SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Golden Coast Conference Semifinal action for UC Irvine men's water polo ended in a 13-10 loss to top-seeded Pacific Saturday evening at Campus Pool on the campus of UC Santa Barbara.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>There were four lead changes in the match, all coming in the first half
>Anteater scoring was distributed evenly with Ethan Shipman, Dylan Patist, Zlatan Nikocevic, and Jack Stevens all scoring twice
>Tyler Padua and Jackson Matos added single goals
>Six Anteater goals came with assists as Matos, Patist, and Nikocevic adding to their totals along with Samuel Otta, Jake Liechty, and Solan Kedzie
>Jacob Pyle stopped nine shots on the night
>Pacific's scoring came from just four different players as Reuel D'Souza led them with five
>Shots were nearly even with Pacific holding the 29-28 edge
>Both sides were fairly successful on the man-advantage with the Tigers going 4-for-8 and UCI scoring three times on seven chances
>The sides split the sprints with UCI winning the second and fourth periods
 
FIRST PERIOD
>Scoring started with UC Irvine and Dylan Patist fresh off his seven-goal match putting UCI up 1-0 at 7:05 in the first period
>Pacific quickly leveled things 24 seconds later at 1-1, but UCI took the lead back at 4:55 in the period from a Jackson Matos strike to lead again, 2-1
>The Tigers took their first lead of the match with goals at 4:15 and 2:24 remaining in the opening period to go up, 3-2
>Patist was back for his second goal of the period with 0:49 to go as the period finished out in a 3-3 tie
>The 'Eaters were led in goal by Jacob Pyle who snagged four saves in the opening frame

SECOND PERIOD
>The second period started with UCI winning the sprint, but Pacific would landed the first goal at 7:02 in the half to take the lead back, 4-3
>Another scoring change came after back-to-back UCI goals from Ethan Shipman at 6:32 in the half and Zlatan Nikocevic at 5:41 for a 5-4 UCI advantage
>Pacific knotted things up again, 5-5, with a goal at 4:42 and then taking the lead back again, 6-5, with 3:18 left in the second quarter
>The half ended with six shots and five from UCI in three possessions. Nothing to could the back of the net as Tiger netminder Bae Fountain corralled three of them to keep the 6-5 advantage into the break.
 
THIRD PERIOD
>Pacific came out of the half with a sprint win and a goal in the first 30 seconds to give either team the largest lead of the game, 7-5
>The Tigers made it an 8-5 game with a five-meter goal at the 6:52 mark
>UCI crept back to within 8-6 at the 6:16 mark on Ethan Shipman's second of the match helped by a Patist assist
>The Tigers closed out the period with the final three goals coming at 5:48, 3:15, and 1:47 to grow their lead to 11-5 netting five of the period's six goals
 
FOURTH PERIOD
>UCI started the fourth period scoring after winning the sprint and Tyler Padua got on the board off a Jake Liechty assist at the 7:37 mark to trail, 11-7
>Pacific answered pushing the lead back to 12-7 from a goal 36 seconds later
>The teams were turned away over the next six possessions with three Anteater shots saved until Zlatan Nikocevic broke through to make it 12-8 Pacific at the midway point of the fourth
>Five more possessions went without a goal before Jack Stevens drew the Tigers to within 12-9 with 1:43 remaining
>The next two possessions also ended on goals as Pacific made it 13-9 at the 1:16 mark and Stevens against scored for UCI 21 seconds later for a 13-10 match and the final score
 
UP NEXT
The Golden Coast Conference Tournament ends for the Anteaters in the semifinals. Their regular season record stands at 16-13.