Anteaters Come up Short Against Top-Ranked UCLA

Friday, November 3

Los Angeles, Calif.

5 p.m.

UC Irvine

14-8

UCLA

22-0

Team	1	2	3	4	OT	OT	Final F
UC Irvine (M)	0	2	1	5	0	0	8
UCLA (M)	2	2	6	3	0	0	13

Anteaters Come up Short Against Top-Ranked UCLA

November 03, 2023 | Men's Water Polo

Box Score

LOS ANGELES - The sixth-ranked UC Irvine men's water polo team dropped a 13-8 non-conference decision to No. 1 UCLA Friday evening at Spieker Aquatics Center.

The Anteaters are now 14-8 overall, while the Bruins remain perfect on the year at 22-0.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

Seven different 'Eaters found the back of the net, led by Stewart Campbell's two goals.
Jasper Dale, Jack Stevens, Johann Thrall, Tyler Padua, Luka Krstic and Jake Liechty also scored.
Liechty, Thrall, Tyler Laymon and goalkeeper Jacob Pyle all finished with an assist.
Pyle added four saves and two steals in the cage.
UCI took 35 shot attempts and converted on 3-of-11 powerplays, while the Bruins were 13-of-25 overall and 4-of-8 in 6-on-5 situations.
Ben Liechty, Makoto Kenney and Frederico Jucá Carsalade paced UCLA with two goals each.

SCORING BREAKDOWN

First period: UCLA's Ben Liechty struck first at the 5:29 mark. It was a low-scoring first quarter as the Bruins held a 2-0 lead at the end of the period.
Second period: UCLA tacked on two more goals in the first three minutes of the second frame. UCI continued to battle and finally broke through when Dale connected with 42 seconds on the clock. Stevens also scored with time winding down to close the gap to 4-2 at the half.
- Dale (1) and Stevens (1)
Third period: The Anteaters kept the momentum early in the third with Thrall converting the 6-on-5 following an exclusion drawn by Stevens. That was the closest they would get, however, as UCLA responded with six consecutive goals to open up a 10-3 lead.
- Thrall (1)
Fourth period: The two teams traded goals to start the fourth period. After UCLA went up 12-4, the 'Eaters made a late push with Padua, Campbell and Krstic all scoring to cut the deficit to five. The Bruins ended the run with just under a minute to go and came away with the 13-8 victory.
- Campbell (2), Padua (1), Krstic (1), Liechty (1)

UP NEXT
UC Irvine will be on the road to close out Big West action as it heads to Cal State Fullerton for a 7 p.m. showdown on Saturday, Nov. 4. An Anteater win would secure at least a share of the program's first conference title since 2000.