Anteaters Prep for 15th Annual Kalbus Invite

Friday, February 25

Irvine, Calif.

2:45 PM

UC Irvine

UC Santa Barbara

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Photo by: Robert Huskey

Anteaters Prep for 15th Annual Kalbus Invite

February 24, 2022 | Women's Water Polo

By: Alex Roberts-Croteau


Dates	February 25-27, 2022
Location	Anteater Aquatics Complex (Irvine, CA) & Marian Bergeson Pool (Corona del Mar HS)
Times	Friday - 2:45 PM UC Santa Barbara Gauchos Live Stats	Tournament Page F OSH Stats
Opponent
Live Stats
Match Notes	UC Irvine Women's Water Polo Notes
Social Media	@UCIwwp @UCIwwp UC Irvine Women's Water Polo #RipEm #TogetherWeZot

STORYLINES
· UCI opened Big West season Saturday with a 19-5 win over CSUN to go to 1-0. The game featured an 8-goal second period along with two shutout periods on defense giving the Anteaters 11 this year in 12 matches.
· The week began at LMU winning 13-9 as Tara Prentice put up a career high six goals. UCI has put up 23 goals in a game this season vs. Concordia tying a program record which featured a nine-goal first period.
· UCI remains ranked seventh in the nation where they've sat since the preseason CWPA polls. Big West preseason polls selected the 'Eaters to finish first.
· Tara Prentice leads the team with 26 goals. She is sixth in program history with 194 career goals surpassing Gianna Rossi at LMU. Her six-goal game Thursday was her first at UCI and fifth match with at least five goals.
· Keeper Faith Tedesco stopped 12 shots in this week's matches giving her 77 saves on the year and upping her record to 9-3. Tedesco dropped her goals-against-average down to 7.22 on the year.
· 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 107 goals. She's also won 61 of 91 career sprints.
· Anteaters Toni Shackelford and Isabel Rack have each played their 100th career matches at UCI this season.
· 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.

ANTEATER ACCOLADES
· Three Anteaters have won Big West Player of the Week with Tara Prentice adding her second of the year and fifth in her career this week from seven goals and a 6-goal game at LMU. She drew opening week honors from 10 goals at the ASU Cross Conference Challenge, and Nioka Thomas earned her first from home wins.
· 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 HOSTING THE BARBARA KALBUS INVITATIONAL
· NCAA Water Polo's best tournament of the year begins this Friday for a three-day invite between the campuses of UC Irvine and Corona del Mar High School. The field features 14 ranked schools including eight of the top 10 and top Division III program Pomona-Pitzer as the 16th entrant.
· The 15th installment of the Kalbus returns in 2022 that began in 2007 and took at year off in 2021. Thirty matches in total with 19 at UCI and 11 at Corona del Mar High School with the championship match Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. All matches will feature live stats, but no live video stream of the action.
· UC Irvine begins its four-match weekend with an afternoon match Friday against No. 15 UC Santa Barbara. The Gauchos are 9-4 to this point, most recently going 2-2 at the UCSD Triton Invite finishing with wins against CSUN and Loyola Marymount after starting with losses to USC and Long Beach State.
· The Anteaters' path in the Kalbus Invite will be determined from the results of the opener with two matches Saturday and one on Sunday. UCI's opening opponent Saturday will be either Stanford or San Diego State.