Big West Championship Starts for Two-Seed Anteaters

Thursday, April 21

Honolulu, Hawai'i

2:45 PM PDT

UC Irvine

CSUN

Photo by: Robert Huskey

Big West Championship Starts for Two-Seed Anteaters

April 19, 2022 | Women's Water Polo

By: Alex Roberts-Croteau


Dates	April 21-23, 2022
Location	Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex - Honolulu, Hawai'i
Times	Thursday - 2:45 PM [7] CSUN Matadors ESPN+ Live Stats	Friday - 4:00 PM *[3] Long Beach State Beach* ESPN+ Live Stats		Saturday - 8:45 PM *[1] Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine* ESPN+ Live Stats
Opponent
ESPN+
Live Stats
Match Notes	UC Irvine Women's Water Polo Notes		Championship Bracket
Social Media	@UCIwwp @UCIwwp UC Irvine Women's Water Polo #RipEm #TogetherWeZot

STORYLINES
· UC Irvine finishes second in the Big West regular season after being projected for first place in preseason. For UCI, the program has finished first in the Big West (8 times) more than it hasn't (5 times) with just a third finish of second place. Head Coach Dan Klatt now has 17 consecutive winning seasons including one in all 14 since the Big West was formed. The program is one win from its eighth 20-win season and first since 2017. As a team, they've scored 302 goals on the year on exactly 700 shots giving them a team shooting percentage of 43.1%. UCI also averages 12.08 goals per match with an 8.59 goals-against-average.
· Tara Prentice has rewritten the Anteater record books surpassing Jessy Cardey's career goals mark at 224 now atop the program with 236 in her career. In addition to that, she became the Big West all-time leader which stood at 229. With two more goals, Prentice will be the first Anteater with multiple 70-goal seasons in their career, and she stands six goals away from tying the UCI single-season mark of 74 set also by Jessy Cardey. Prentice scored seven goals against Cal April 4 to tie a program record for single-game scoring that stood since 2002 which was her third career match with 6+ goals. Prentice is also the active career leader for UCI with 64 assists, 110 steals, and 117 exclusions drawn. Her 24 field blocks in her career tie her with Piper Smith.
· Anteater milestones continue to topple with three Anteaters in Toni Shackelford, Isabel Rack, and Tara Prentice all reaching 100 career matches. Sarah Nichols could reach that with two more matches. Piper Smith netted her 100th goal earlier in the season, sitting 14th all-time in program goals, and is approaching 150 career points along with Toni Shackelford, one point away.. Jessica Lynch reached 100 career points with her four at UCLA, and could be joined by Isabel Rack, needing two points, and Sarah Nichols, five points away.
· Notable Anteater marks also include Piper Smith with 79 career sprints won winning 68% of her sprints all-time and a 24-9 mark in 2022, in addition to her 46 steals, 24 field blocks, and 37 exclusions drawn. She is 1 of 4 Anteaters with six or more field blocks, tied with Prentice with seven for the team lead. Toni Shackelford's longevity has her second among active 'Eaters with 48 steals and 57 assists. Three Anteaters have 19 assists - Prentice, Jessica Lynch, and Kili Skibby to tie for the team lead.
· Keeper Faith Tedesco has recorded 160 saves with a high of 15 in a match against Fresno State. Tedesco's goals-against-average sits at 8.61 this year playing 765 of 812 total minutes. Jordan Frost has 10 saves and earned her first win vs. CSUEB.
· UCI remain fifth nationally after entering the season seventh and sixth all March. UCI's notable wins on the year include a fourth-career win over Cal topping the fourth-ranked Bears in overtime on the road. They also defeated then-No. 6 Michigan at the Kalbus Invite where they finished fifth. UCI has a fifth-place finish at the UCSD Triton Invite and won two of four matches to open the season at the ASU Cross Conference Challenge in Tempe including an upset of No. 4 Arizona State.

ANTEATER ACCOLADES
· Anteaters have won Big West Player of the Week seven times between two players. Tara Prentice has won six this year including three straight at one point and now nine for her career all setting Big West records. Nioka Thomas drew the seventh Anteater award and the first of her career back on February 9 giving UCI.
· Big West Commissioner's Honor Roll was announced for student-athletes over 3.00 GPA in 2021 with 18 women's water polo players including Jensine Bugelli, Kira Hoffman, Tara Prentice, Kili Skibby, and Rylee Williams recognized with highest honors. Dean's List was just announced for the Winter Quarter with 14 Anteaters mentioned as part of 116 UC Irvine student-athletes, an improvement off the 12 women's water polo honorees in the Fall Dean's List from 113 Anteater student-athletes
· Seven Anteater seniors were recognized at their senior day last week - Tara Prentice (master's in demographic & social analysis), Isabel Rack (education - early childhood development), Toni Shackelford (education), Ariana Bockstahler (psychology & social behavior), Rylee Williams (education, psychology & social behavior), Sarah Nichols (psychology & social behavior, urban planning & public policy), and Piper Smith (education, urban planning).
· In the pool, three were named ACWPC All-Americans in 2021 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 April 8th.

THE BIG WEST CHAMPIONSHIP
· The Anteaters begin the 14th installment of the Big West Tournament as seven-time champions. They have never won as the No. 2 seed nor have they won it since 2018. UCI is 23-5 all-time in the tournament with four of the losses coming against Hawai'i. The one win against the Rainbow Wahine came in the 2018 Final hosted at UC Irvine in sudden victory.
· This is the second Big West Tournament to be held in Hawai'i. The other in 2015 saw the 'Eaters and 'Bows battle into overtime in the tournament final with UCI losing, 9-8. All-time, Hawai'i leads the series 27-12 with wins in the last eight matchups. UCI is 4-11 in matches on the island and 2-7 when playing Hawai'i with wins in 2004 and 2014.