IRVINE, Calif. – No. 11 UC Irvine men's water polo (14-10) defensive performance earned them the 12-10 victory over T-No. 9 Pepperdine (12-13) in Saturday's matinee.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>No. 9 Pepperdine outshot UC Irvine, 33-28
>Nine Anteaters had shot attempts
>Jacob Pyle earned the start in goal, making seven saves and one steal
>Tyler Padua, Dylan Patist, and Zlatan Nikocevic led all players in shots, each going 3-5 at the cage
>Ethan Shipman, Luka Krstic, and Jack Stevens all chipped in with one goal apiece
>Shipman, Krstic, Nikocevic, and Stevens all had two assists each
>Padua led all players with three steals
>Stevens won all four sprints for UCI
>No. 9 Pepperdine was led by Travis Reynolds who scored three goals on five attempts along with one steal
 
FIRST PERIOD
>Jack Stevens (4:48) earned the first goal for either team after receiving a pass from Ethan Shipman who was in the corner, 1-0
>Dylan Patist (3:54) knocked one in off the crossbar shot after the Anteaters were able to defend the Waves shot that hit the post, 2-0
>Luka Krstic fed the ball into the middle to Zlatan Nikocevic (2:04) for another UCI goal, 3-0
>No. 9 Pepperdine scored their first and second goals of the game on a power play opportunities, 3-2
>On the final play of the period, Krstic blocked a Waves shot headed towards the goal with one second left on the clock

SECOND PERIOD
>Tyler Padua (7:33) netted a goal on the Anteaters first possession of the period, 4-2
>After Padua stole the ball from No. 9 Pepperdine, he helped set up the play for Patist (7:01) to sneak one past the Waves goalie, 5-2
>The Waves (6:43) scored on the following drive down the pool, 5-3
>Three UCI players crashed the center of the goal on their defensive play to prevent an opponent goal scored, but gave one up on a five-meter penalty, 5-4
>Patist (4:38) notched the hat-trick on the next play off a pass from Nikocevic, 6-4
>No. Pepperdine (0:48) ended the scoring drought for both teams, adding one on the one man advantage, 6-5
>After the whistled exclusion on the Waves, Shipman set up Padua (0:24) in the center, 7-5
>Krstic lobbed one across the pool with one second left in the half to score on the 7-on-6, 8-5
 
THIRD PERIOD
>No. 9 Pepperdine opened the period with two goals (6:52, 5:56) to force UCI to call a time out to regroup, 8-7
>Nikocevic (4:17) floated the ball into the cage over the Pepperdine keeper's head with an assist from Stevens, 9-7
>The Waves were able to fire off a shot to add to their column, 9-8
>Nikocevic (1:34) notched the hat-trick from the right side of the pool with some help from Stewart Campbell, 10-8
 
FOURTH PERIOD
>Padua (6:31) was the third Anteater to notch a hat-trick in the contest with an assist from Patist, 11-8
>No. 9 Pepperdine found the back of the cage on their offensive possession, 11-9
>Krstic and Shipman pass the ball back and forth before Shipman (1:15) was able to dent the twine, 12-9
>The Waves were able to get one last goal in the game before falling 12-10
 
UP NEXT
UC Irvine will complete their last road trip of the season at No. 13 UC San Diego on Thursday Nov. 10 before returning home for a doubleheader on Saturday Nov. 12 against No. 5 Long Beach State and Whittier for senior day.