Senior Night Friday for Women's Water Polo vs. No. 12 UCSD

Friday, April 15

Irvine, Calif.

6:00 PM

UC Irvine

UC San Diego

ariana-bockstahler-sarah-nichols-uci-wwp-2022-ucsb-ucsd

Photo by: Matt Brown

Senior Night Friday for Women's Water Polo vs. No. 12 UCSD

April 14, 2022 | Women's Water Polo

By: Alex Roberts-Croteau


Dates	April 15, 2022
Location	Anteater Aquatics Complex - Irvine, Calif.
Times	Friday - 6:00 PM No. 12 UC San Diego Tritons UC Irvine Live Stream Live Stats
Opponent
Live Stream
Live Stats
*Information*	UC Irvine Women's Water Polo Notes	Gameday Rosters
Social Media	@UCIwwp @UCIwwp UC Irvine Women's Water Polo #RipEm #TogetherWeZot

STORYLINES
· UC Irvine will celebrate its senior class following Friday's final home match vs. UCSD. There are seven seniors that will be recognized - Tara Prentice, Isabel Rack, Toni Shackelford, Ariana Bockstahler, Rylee Williams, Sarah Nichols, and Piper Smith.
· UCI jump to fifth in the nation, its highest of 2022, after entering the season seventh and sixth all March. UCI added its second upset last week topping No. 4 Cal in overtime on the road. They also defeated then-No. 6 Michigan at the Kalbus Invite.
· The Anteaters are 4-1 in Big West Play sitting in second place after a loss to 6-0 Hawai'i and win over UC Davis last week. UCI has wins at No. 10 LBSU, No. 16 UCSB, and No. 24 CSUN as well. Friday's match against UC San Diego will serve as a match to determine second place in the conference and tournament seeding. Big West preseason polls selected the 'Eaters to finish first.
· Tara Prentice has broken all the scoring records with her eight last week. She surpassed Jessy Cardey's 224 career goals to become the program's scoring leader currently with 232. With her six-goal match, the third of her career Sunday, she also eclipsed the Big West all-time scoring mark that sat at 229 by CSUN's Madeleine Sanchez. In addition, she also matched the program record scoring seven times in the win at Cal; something that had been done just one before by Erica Horman in 2002.
· Other statistical marks see a four-way tie for the assist lead with Prentice, Jessica Lynch, Kili Skibby, and Sarah Nichols all with 17. Prentice also paces the team with 66 exclusions drawn, 26 steals, and ties Nichols again with six field blocks
· Keeper Faith Tedesco has recorded 154 saves with a high of 15 in a match this season against Fresno State. Tedesco's goals-against-average sits at 8.65 this year. Jordan Frost earned her first win vs. CSUEB and now has 10 saves on the year.
· Piper Smith netted her 100th career goal vs. Azusa Pacific. Smith is the 17th Anteater with 100 career goals. She's also the leading sprinter winning 21 of 29 recorded sprints this season, and has won 68% of her sprints, 76 wins in total over her career
· Some 'Eaters surpassed milestones with Tara Prentice playing her 100th match on vs. SDSU. Jessica Lynch reached 100 career points with her four at UCLA now with 110 in her career behind 74 goals and 36 assists. Prentice currently sits six points from 300 in her career while Isabel Rack can reach 100 with just two more points. Prentice is also approaching 70 goals with six more that would make her the only Anteater with multiple 70-goal seasons. She's 10 away from tying the single-season record of 74 also held by Jessy Cardey
· The Anteaters finished fifth at the UCSD Triton Invite and Kalbus Invite at UCI winning three of four matches at each. UCI also won two of four matches to open the season at the ASU Cross Conference Challenge in Tempe.

ANTEATER ACCOLADES
· Anteaters have won Big West Player of the Week six times between two players. Tara Prentice has won five this year including three straight at one point and now eight for her career all setting Big West records. Nioka Thomas drew the sixth Anteater award and the first of her career back on February 9 giving UCI six Big West awards in 2022.
· 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, and became the program and conference's all-time leading goal scorer.

THIS WEEK VS. UC SAN DIEGO
· UCI's final regular season match is a home match Friday night which will determine the No. 2 standing in the Big West and seed in the Big West Tournament next week. The Tritons enter the week at 18-9 battling with other Big West opponents losing three times to UC Davis while beating Long Beach State twice. UCSD has also suffered tough losses to Indiana, splitting with Wagner, and a one-goal win over LMU prior to falling on the road to Hawai'i and winning UC Santa Barbara last Saturday.
· Leading the Triton attack is Ciara Franke with 47 goals. She's also taken home a player of the week award. She's among the team's leaders in exclusions drawn and steals along with fellow senior Taylor Onstott who holds the lead in each category at 28 exclusions drawn and 23 steals. Annika Arroyo's 36 goals and Courtney Okumura with 24 assists along demand attention. In net could likely be a familiar name, Bennett Bugelli, sister of UCI's Jensine, who leads UCSD with 549 minutes played stopping 149 shots posting a 9.15 goals-against-average.