FRESNO, Calif. – No. 5 UC Irvine (1-1) defeated No. 8 Fresno State in the Anteaters final game at the Bulldog Invitational.
 
Redshirt sophomore Elena Flynn had a standout performance with seven goals in the contest. Flynn tied the school record of seven goals in a contest that was first set in 2002, but then tied by Tara Prentice last season in the 14-13 overtime victory over California (April 2, 2022).
 
Transfer Erin Tharp became second all-time in the UC Irvine history book in her first match as an Anteater with her 17 saves. The school record is 20 and the previous second all-time of 16 was last reached in January 2020.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>No. 8 Fresno State outshot No. 5 UC Irvine 38-25
>12 Anteaters had shot attempts
>Tharp earned her first start as an Anteater in the cage, making 17 saves for a 0.654 save percentage
>Flynn led all players in goals, notching the double hat-trick (7-8)
>Nioka Thomas earned her first hat-trick of the season after going a perfect 4-4 at the net
>Kili Skibby led the game in assists with two
>Skibby and Airian Grisham each tallied one steal
>UCI is able to keep their unbeaten all-time record over the Bulldogs, improving to 4-0
>No. 8 Fresno State was led by Jillian Schultz, recording two goals on five shot

FIRST PERIOD
>Similar to the first game of the day, Nioka Thomas is the first player of the match to find the net to put UCI up 1-0 at 7:30
>In her first start as an Anteater, Erin Tharp makes two saves on back-to-back Bulldog possessions
>No. 8 Fresno State is called for an exclusion at 5:04 and Thomas (4:51) converted on the one man advantage, 2-0
>FSU was able to find the back of the net at 2:35, 2-1
>Elena Flynn (2:10, 1:12) scored two consecutive points receiving help from both Olivia Giolas and Sabin Shackelford to put the 'Eaters up 4-1
>Gracie Helberg launched a shot towards the goal in the final seconds but the Bulldog goalkeeper prevented it from finding the back of the cage
 
SECOND PERIOD
>Flynn notched her second hat-trick of the day and season at 7:05, 5-1
>Kili Skibby set up Kennedy East to place it in the back of the net, 6-1 (5:47)
>The Anteaters go down to five players at 5:30 where No. 8 Fresno State capitalized on the power play opportunity, 6-2
>Brooke Banta found the open Flynn at (4:14) for her fourth goal and was able to notch her fifth of the match at 3:20 during the power play, 8-2
>Skibby anticipated the Bulldog pass and stole the ball to feed the open Flynn at the other end of the pool, 9-2 (2:10)

THIRD PERIOD
>After winning the sprint, No. 8 Fresno State was able to add a tally to their side of the scoresheet, 9-3 (7:37)
>The Bulldogs strung together a slew of passes to get the ball into the cage at 6:17, 9-4
>At the 5:26 mark, Giolas dented the twine on the assist from East, 10-4
>Mica Schiavone tallied her first goal of the contest at 3:41 before No. Fresno State responded with a goal of their own at 3:24, 11-5
>Banta stopped a Bulldog shot and FSU was able to find the back of the net on their next one, 11-6 (2:08)
>Thomas played the ball to Banta who then placed it inside of the goal at 1:10, 12-6
 
FOURTH PERIOD
>UCI won the sprint to set up a possession that allowed Jessica Lynch to fed to Thomas for the hat-trick at 7:44, 13-6
>No. 8 Fresno State stopped an Anteater scoring attempt, brought the ball down the pool, and scored after passing the ball around a few times, 13-7 (6:49)
>Flynn netted her seventh goal of the game at 6:30, then Thomas (5:53) deposited her fourth of the contest to stretch the UCI advantage, 15-7
>Jensine Bugelli dented the twine at 3:09 to become the seventh 'Eater to score, 16-7
>The Bulldogs found the back of the goal on two consecutive possessions with the last one at 1:02, 16-9
 
UP NEXT
The Anteaters will head to Riverside to compete in the Lancer Invitational hosted by California Baptist.