NCAA Tournament Time for Women's Water Polo

Friday, May 6

Ann Arbor, Mich.

11:00 AM PT

UC Irvine

UCLA

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NCAA Tournament Time for Women's Water Polo

May 05, 2022 | Women's Water Polo

By: Alex Roberts-Croteau


Dates	May 6-8, 2022
Location	Canham Natatorium - Ann Arbor, Mich.
Times	Friday - 11:00 AM PT [4] UCLA Bruins ncaa.com Live Stats	Saturday - 12:00 PM PT *Semifinal* ncaa.com Live Stats		Sunday - 1:00 PM PT *Final* ESPNU 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

THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP
· UC Irvine returns to the NCAA Tournament for a seventh time and first since 2018. UC Irvine's very first NCAA Tournament in 2011 also came at Canham Natatorium in Michigan. The 'Eaters are 7-8 all-time in the NCAA Tournament winning the opening-round game once in 2012 finishing fourth that season, its highest NCAA Tournament finish.
· UCI and UCLA open the tournament against each other in just the second NCAA Tournament matchup between the schools. The 'Eaters fell by one goal in their other matchup in the 2012 third-place game at San Diego. The 'Eaters and Bruins matchup for the 30th time with UCI searching for its first-ever win in the series. One Anteater, Brooke Banta, was a Bruin redshirting in 2021 before joining UC Irvine.
· Three Anteaters enter with NCAA Tournament experience. Toni Shackelford, Isabel Rack, and Tara Prentice each played in the two 2018 matches, a win over Pomona-Pitzer and loss to Stanford. Prentice collected three goals, two assists, and three steals, Shackelford scored three goals over the two matches, and Rack scored once.
· The Anteaters come in as Big West Tournament champions for the eighth time in program history. UCI and Hawai'i met in the Big West Final for a fourth straight season with UCI winning for the second time and first time in Hawai'i. UCI improves its Big West Tournament record all-time to 26-5.

STORYLINES
· UC Irvine finished second in the Big West regular season after being projected for first place. Head Coach Dan Klatt now has 17 consecutive winning seasons including one in all 14 since the Big West was formed. The program reached its eighth 20-win season and first since 2017. As a team, they've scored 337 goals on the year shooting 43.1% and averaging 12.08 goals per match, highest in program history with an 8.59 goals-against-average.
· Big West awards were handed out last week with six Anteater honored including major award winners - Tara Prentice winning the team's seventh, and the eighth Big West Coach of the Year for Dan Klatt. Prentice also scored her third All-Big West First Team win joined by goalkeeper Faith Tedesco, her first honor. Second Team recognition went to Piper Smith, her third honor, Jessica Lynch, her second honor, and Elena Flynn for her first and was the lone 'Eater representative on the All-Freshman squad. UCI has had at least four honorees on every All-Big West team.
· Tara Prentice has rewritten the Anteater record books surpassing Jessy Cardey's career goals mark at 224 now atop the program with 240 in her career. In addition to that, she became the Big West all-time leader which stood at 229. Prentice became the first Anteater with multiple 70-goal seasons in their career, and she stands two 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, her third career match with 6+ goals. Prentice is also the active career leader for UCI with 66 assists, 110 steals, and 118 exclusions drawn with 24 field blocks in her career, second behind Piper Smith.
· Anteater milestones continue to topple with four Anteaters in Toni Shackelford, Isabel Rack, Sarah Nichols, and Tara Prentice all reaching 100 career matches. Piper Smith netted her 100th goal earlier in the season, sitting 14th all-time in program goals, and surpassed 150 career points along with Toni Shackelford. Jessica Lynch reached 100 career points with her four at UCLA, and Isabel Rack's three-goal game Friday put her above 100 points as well, and could be joined by Sarah Nichols, three points away.
· Notable Anteater marks also include Piper Smith with 85 career sprints won winning 69.1% of her sprints all-time and a 30-10 mark in 2022, in addition to her 50 steals, 24 field blocks, and 37 exclusions drawn. She is 1 of 4 Anteaters with seven or more field blocks, tied with Elena Flynn with eight for the team lead. Toni Shackelford's longevity has her second among active 'Eaters with 51 steals and 58 assists. Jessica Lynch took over the team lead in assists with 22 with Tara Prentice just behind with 21.
· Keeper Faith Tedesco has recorded 161 saves with a high of 15 in a match against Fresno State. Tedesco's goals-against-average sits at 8.59 this year playing 797 with a 19-6 record before an injury in the Big West Championship quarterfinal match. Jordan Frost took over winning the final two tournament matches including a career high eight saves in the final to win the program's eighth Big West Tournament MVP title and second by a goalkeeper joining UCI's last MVP win in 2018 by Jenna Phreaner.
· 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 had 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. UCI's win in the Big West Final over No. 4 Hawai'i for the fourth win over a higher-ranked opponent.

ANTEATER ACCOLADES
· Anteaters 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 - 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.