No. 7 UC Irvine Heads to LMU, CSUN

Thursday, February 17

Los Angeles, Calif.

3:00 PM

UC Irvine

Loyola Marymount

toni-shackelford-uci-wwp-2022-lmu-csun-cui

Photo by: Robert Huskey

No. 7 UC Irvine Heads to LMU, CSUN

February 16, 2022 | Women's Water Polo

By: Alex Roberts-Croteau


Dates	February 17 & 19, 2022
Location	Los Angeles, Calif. - Burns Aquatic Center	Northridge, Calif. - Matador Pool
Times	Thursday - 3:00 PM Loyola Marymount Lions WCC Network Live Stats	Saturday - 12:00 PM CSUN Matadors
Opponent
Live Stream
Live Stats
Match Notes	UC Irvine Women's Water Polo Notes
Social Media	@UCIwwp @UCIwwp UC Irvine Women's Water Polo #RipEm #TogetherWeZot

STORYLINES
· The Anteaters finished fifth at the UCSD Triton Invite winning three of four matches. The highlights included defensive wins over No. 13 LBSU and No. 10 UC Davis on Sunday, and an overtime loss to No. 6 Hawai'i.
· UCI remains ranked seventh in the nation. Big West preseason polls selected the 'Eaters to finish first.
· Leading scorers for the invite were Jessica Lynch scoring seven goals and leading the team in two games. Tara Prentice added five, and four from Piper Smith. The Anteaters had nine different goalscorers in a 9-6 win Sunday vs. UC Davis
· UCI's defense allowed no more than eight goals in a game all weekend averaging 5.75 goals allowed per game. UCI has allowed less than 10 goals in eight of 10 games this year. The Anteaters doubled their shutout periods for the year with four in four games at UCSD to give them eight in 2022.
· Keeper Faith Tedesco stopped 25 shots in the four matches playing 15 of 16 regulation quarters and the overtime against Hawai'i. She's lowered her season goals-against-average to 7.27.

ANTEATER ACCOLADES
· Two Anteaters have won Big West Player of the Week with Tara Prentice in the opening week scoring 10 goals at the ASU Cross Conference Challenge for the fourth of her career, and five goals and four drawn exclusions from Nioka Thomas in wins over Azusa Pacific and Concordia for her first.
· Tara Prentice leads the team with 19 goals. She jumped into seventh in program history with 187 in her career passing McKenna Mitchell. She's five goals from Gianna Rossi next on the list in sixth with 192 career goals.
· Piper Smith netted her 100th career goal vs. Azusa Pacific. Smith is the 17th Anteater with 100 career goals, and surpassed Kelsey Klatt for 16th all-time with 105 goals. She's also won 60 of 90 career sprints.
· Anteaters Toni Shackelford and Isabel Rack have each played their 100th career matches at UCI this season.
· Big West Commissioner's Honor Roll was announced for student-athletes over 3.00 GPA in 2021 with 18 women's water polo players. Jensine Bugelli, Kira Hoffman, Tara Prentice, Kili Skibby, and Rylee Williams were recognized highest honors and Brooke Banta, Ariana Bockstahler, Elena Flynn, Jordan Frost, Jessica Lynch, Maeve Murphy, Jessica Newell, Sarah Nichols, Isabel Rack, Portia Schiavone, Mica Schiavone, Piper Smith, and Faith Tedesco with honors. This builds off the 12 players among the 113 Anteaters on fall Dean's List.
· In the pool, three were named ACWPC All-Americans including graduates Morgan Jones and Megan Falcon, and a lone returner in Piper Smith on the Second Team who led the squad in scoring with 26 goals.
· Three-time All-American Tara Prentice returns after sitting out the 2021 season to train of the 2021 Olympics. Prentice entered the season with 168 career goals. She currently stands one goal from seventh in UCI history.

THIS WEEK AT LOYOLA MARYMOUNT, CSUN
· LMU is 4-4 to start 2022 with a pair of eight-goal losses to Arizona State, and went 2-2 at the Triton Invite defeating Pomona-Pitzer and San Diego State with losses to UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara. UCI has a chance to even the all-time series Thursday which is currently 16-15 in favor of the Lions. Coming off a 3-5 season, one of the top scorers returns in Risse Sanchez, and Elizabeth Bradley and Madison Davis who split time in net. The match Thursday will be streamed live on the WCC Network with live stats.
· The week ends with a Saturday afternoon matchup against CSUN start Big West play and matchup for the first time since 2019. CSUN is 3-3 with some common opponents beating Concordia by one, Marist by three, and losing 18-3 to Hawai'i to open their Triton Invite while losing to SDSU and UCSB. The Matadors opted out of the 2021 season, but come with sophomore Hungarian center Dorottya Telek (20 goals, 18 drawn exclusions) and Anna Pal (11 goals, 9 assists) leading the charge and 53 saves between Piper McCulloch and Meghan Lopez. The Anteaters are dominant in the all-time series winning 32 of 36 matches and the last 19 straight.