RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Dominating offense by No. 6 UC Irvine (2-1) powered them past RV California Baptist (4-4) to open up the Lancer Joust Invitational.
 
The Anteaters 20 goals tied fourth all-time for goals in a game where the last time this feat was reach was against CBU on Jan. 28, 2017.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>No. 6 UC Irvine outshot RV California Baptist, 29-26
>Able to convert 20 of their shots, the 'Eaters shot at an efficient 0.690 clip
>10 Anteaters scored in the contest while 11 had shot attempts
>Faith Tedesco earned the in the cage, making 10 saves for a 0.625 save percentage
>Mica Schiavone led all players in goals with four on five attempts
>Nioka Thomas earned her second hat-trick of the season, going 3-4 at the net
>Kennedy East led the game in steals with two

FIRST PERIOD
>Nioka Thomas has been the first Anteater to find the back of the cage in UCI's first three contests, this one coming at 6:39, 1-0
>After the exclusion was committed by a California Baptist player, Jessica Lynch put it in the back of the net at 5:59, 2-0
>No. 6 UC Irvine then scored their next two goals within 30 seconds of each other, one at 5:05 by Elena Flynn and the next at 4:38 from Kennedy East
>The Lancers were able to deposit their first and second goals of the game on back to back possessions (4:15, 3:25), 4-2
>East stole the ball from a CBU player that led to Gabby Norris hitting the back of the goal with 34 ticks remaining, 5-2
>On the powerplay opportunity, East netted her second goal of the contest at 0:02 before Faith Tedesco blocked a shot to close out the period, 6-2
 
SECOND PERIOD
>Just 29 seconds into the second period, the Lancers scored to make it a one goal game, 6-3
>The Anteaters were able to dent the twine twice in a 30 second period with the first goal scored by Libby Alexander (7:03) on the one man advantage and Olivia Giolas's (6:27) at even strength, 8-3
>CBU committed a penalty in front of the cage that allowed Mica Schiavone to convert on the five-meter attempt, 9-3 (5:43)
>On the next drive down the pool, the Lancers netted their fourth goal of the contest at 5:26, 9-4
>Another slew of Anteater goals occurred with a 30-second span where Schiavone deposited one at 3:57 and Gracie Helberg was able to skip one in at 3:24 on the five meter shot, 11-4
>Lynch came up with the steal off a California Baptist player eventually finding Flynn to go up 12-4 at 1:52

THIRD PERIOD
>Sitting in front of the cage, Thomas was fed for the quick catch and shoot play at 6:56 before completing the hat-trick at 6:12, 14-4
>The Lancers would test Tedesco but she was able to come up with two saves
>Kili Skibby notched her first goal of the season at 4:46 where she used the crossbar to knock the ball in, 15-4
>CBU had opportunities to net a goal but would miss just wide
 
FOURTH PERIOD
>On the first offensive play for UCI, Schiavone earned her first hat-trick of the season at 7:34, 16-4
>California Baptist, who had not scored since the 5:26 mark in the second period, drew the exclusion to put one in the back of the cage at 6:20, 16-5
>As time expired on the shot clock, Helberg deposited her second goal of the contest, 17-5 (5:49)
>The Lancers answered UCI's goal with one of their own with 5:22 remaining, 17-6
>UCI strung together three more goals between 3:43-2:17 to win the game, 20-6
 
UP NEXT
UCI will face RV Azusa Pacific at 3 p.m. to finish the first day of the Lancer Invite.