UCI Downs Fresno Pacific, 20-2

Saturday, January 28

Riverside, CA

2:15 p.m.

UC Irvine

4-2

Fresno Pacific

1-4

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Fresno Pacific	0	1	1	0	2
UC Irvine	5	5	7	3	20

UCI Downs Fresno Pacific, 20-2

January 28, 2023 | Women's Water Polo

Box Score

By: Jordan Kehoe

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – No. 6 UC Irvine (4-2) downed Fresno Pacific (1-4) 20-2 in the final game of the Lancer Joust Invitational.

For the first time since the 2014 season, the Anteaters have recorded three 20-point scoring efforts on the year thus far.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>No. 6 UC Irvine outshot Fresno Pacific, 33-9
>10 Anteaters scored in the contest
>Portia Schiavone earned her first start in the cage of the season, making five saves along with two steals
>Nioka Thomas paced the 'Eaters with four goals on four shots
>Gracie Helberg (3-4) and Olivia Giolas (3-4) both notched hat-tricks in the contest
>Libby Alexander (2-4), Brooke Banta (2-4), and Mica Schiavone (2-2) were the other three Anteaters to score multiple goals
>Sabina Shackelford earned three steals in the game

FIRST PERIOD
>Jensine Bugelli won the sprint win for UCI to set up Nioka Thomas at 7:43, 1-0
>Thomas (5:55) and Bugelli (5:37) team up to score on back-to-back Anteater attacks, 3-0
>Fresno Pacific turned the ball over which allowed Olivia Giolas to put one in the back of the cage, 4-0 (2:47)
>With 32 seconds remaining in the period, Gracie Helberg made her way to the cage after a Sunbird shot clock violation, 5-0

SECOND PERIOD
>Brooke Banta (6:19) got the first goal for either team in the new set after another Fresno Pacific shot clock offense and followed that up with another at 5:31, 7-0
>Fresno Pacific scored their first goal after UCI committed an exclusion, 7-1 (4:01)
>Sabina Shackelford fed Thomas in front of the cage at 2:39 for the hat-trick, 8-1
>Helberg (1:46) added another tally to the UCI scoresheet, 9-1
>Following up on a shot off the post, Giolas closed the half out with her goal with 10 seconds remaining, 10-1

THIRD PERIOD
>No. 6 UC Irvine struck first in the third period when Libby Alexander deposited the ball in the net at 6:33, 11-1
>Both Mica Schiavone (5:55) and Alexander (5:26) score within 30 seconds of each other, 13-1
>Thomas earned her fourth goal of the contest with 4:43 remaining, 14-1
>Maeve Murphy used the Fresno Pacific turnover to counterattack and place the ball in the net, 15-1 (3:00)
>The Sunbirds were able to capitalize on the power play opportunity at 1:48 before Helberg earned the hat-trick at 1:23, 16-2
>Giolas used the one-man advantage for the 'Eaters to net her second goal of the game, 17-2 (0:23)

FOURTH PERIOD
>Airian Grisham attempted to score, forced the corner throw, and made it into the cage on the following attempt at 3:51, 18-2
>Fresno Pacific committed an exclusion at 3:11 to set up Mica Schiavone's goal at 2:57, 19-2
>Shackelford released the ball at 0:41 to beat the Sunbird goalkeeper, 20-2
>FPU would unload a shot in the final seconds, but Portia Schiavone came up with the stop

UP NEXT
UC Irvine returns to action Feb. 3-5 at the Triton Invitational hosted by UC San Diego.