'Eaters Fall To No. 5 Hawai'i

Sunday, February 5

La Jolla, CA

12:10 p.m.

UC Irvine

6-4

Hawai'i

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
UC Irvine	2	2	0	4	8
Hawai'i	5	2	2	3	12

'Eaters Fall To No. 5 Hawai'i

February 05, 2023 | Women's Water Polo

Box Score

By: Jordan Kehoe

LA JOLLA, Calif. – No. 9 UC Irvine (6-4) dropped a 12-8 decision to Big West foe No. 5 Hawai'i in the third-place game at the Triton Invitational.

FIRST PERIOD
>Both teams got on the board early, No.5 Hawai'i put the ball in the cage first at 7:41 before Jessica Lynch tied the contest at 7:01 on a power play opportunity, 1-1
>The Rainbow Wahine scored three straight goals (6:34, 4:23, 3:46), two of which came from being up one player, 1-4
>UCI called a timeout at 3:46, regrouped and designed a play that gave Libby Alexander (2:48) the ball in front of the net, 2-4
>With 1:19 remaining, UH added one more goal to their tally before the end of the period, 2-5

SECOND PERIOD
>On the one-man advantage, Hawai'i was able to convert, 2-6 (6:38)
>Lynch (2:10) broke the scoring drought for either team when the Anteaters earned the power play, 3-6
>A UCI exclusion gave Hawai'i the chance to score on a five-meter penalty, 3-7 (0:55)
>On the next drive down the pool, Gracie Helberg fired a shot into the goal with 22 seconds remaining in the half, 4-7

THIRD PERIOD
>The Rainbow Wahine found a chance to place the ball past the Anteater defenders at 6:07, 4-8
>UH increased their advantage at 3:28, 4-8

FOURTH PERIOD
>Hawaii added two more tallies to the scoresheet (7:35, 5:54), 4-11
>Helberg scored twice in less than a minute to notch the hat-trick, 6-11
>Nioka Thomas had the next Anteater goal, placing the ball into the net at 2:44 after UCI's regroup, 7-11
>UH responded to the 'Eater run at 1:17, but Alexander recorded one final with 41 ticks on the clock, 8-12

UP NEXT
The Anteaters host No. 3 UCLA and Whittier for doubleheader action on Saturday Feb. 11^th.