POMONA, Calif. – No. 9 UC Irvine men's water polo (8-6) rounded out the G. Troyer tournament with a 14-7 win against Occidental (4-9).
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>UC Irvine and Occidental both had 21 shot attempts
>Zayd Mahmoud earned the start in goal, making eight saves
>Samuel Otta led all players in goals with three, shooting a perfect 3-3
>Otta notched his first hat-trick of the season
>Solan Kedzie led all players with two steals
>Four Anteaters tallied two goals—Tyler Padua (2-3), Dylan Patist (2-3), Grant Chiponis (2-3), Zlatan Nikocevic (2-2)
>Freshman Luka Krstic, Jack Stevens, and Jasper Dale all earned one goal each
>Jake Liechty, Nikocevic, and Whittaker Worland each came away with one assist
>Occidental was led by Shea Grosz, recording two goals on four shots
 
FIRST PERIOD
>Jasper Dale (7:32) found the back of the net for UC Irvine
>Grant Chiponis (3:03) locked another one in for the Anteaters, assisted by Jake Liechty
>Tyler Padua (0:00) landed a goal at the buzzer, set up by Thomas Cass
 
SECOND PERIOD
>Zlatan Nikocevic (7:31) deposited one early for UCI in the second period, followed by one from Samuel Otta (6:08)
>UC Irvine scored five unanswered, limiting Occidental to only one point
 
THIRD PERIOD
>The Anteaters hit another hot streak, adding four in the period
>Padua (7:22), Otta (6:04), Jack Stevens (4:43), and Dylan Patist (0:57) all scored for UC Irvine
>The Tigers were only able to capitalize on one shot opportunity
 
FOURTH PERIOD
>Occidental outscored UCI in the final period 3-2
>Otta (6:19) notched his first hat-trick of the season before Luka Krstic (5:42) added the final Anteater tally
 
UP NEXT
UCI will heads to Los Angeles to face No. 5 USC for the second time this season on Sunday Oct. 2 at 12 p.m.