IRVINE, Calif.—No. 6 UC Irvine (11-6, 3-0 BW) collected their third straight conference win after defeating Cal State Fullerton (9-12, 0-2 BW), 17-3 in Sunday's matinee.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>No. 6 UC Irvine outshot Cal State Fullerton, 35-19
>Each team committed six exclusions
>Faith Tedesco made the start in the cage, making two stops along with a steal
>Jordan Frost took over the net in the third period and had one save
>Portia Schiavone closed out the game in the cage, making four stops which was one shy of a career best
>Nioka Thomas and Maeve Murphy paced the Anteaters, both scoring four goals on six shots
>Airian Grisham (2-4) and Jensine Bugelli (2-3) had multiple goals in the contest
>11 different Anteaters tallied an assist
>Gracie Helberg had a game high four assists
>Sabina Shackelford stripped the ball away five times
 
FIRST PERIOD
>Airian Grisham picked off the cross-pool pass and took the ball down the length of the pool to float it into the cage just over the head of the Titan goalie at 7:18, 1-0
>After two blocked Anteater shots, Kili Skibby fed Grisham (4:48) at the top of the UCI formation for a shot that was fired to the right side past the outstretched arms of the keeper and Maeve Murphy (3:57) scored in a similar fashion, 3-0
>Cal State Fullerton netted a goal at 2:38 to stop the No. 6 UC Irvine run, 3-1
>Libby Alexander had the ball on the right side, passed it to the heavily defended Nioka Thomas in the center who used a backhanded shot to score at 2:14, 4-1
>Murphy sprinted down the pool with the ball and spiked it in the bottom right corner of the cage to stretch the lead, 5-1 (1:40)
 
SECOND PERIOD
>Grisham retrieved the ball, passing it from the right side to the left to Kennedy East for the goal at 7:35, 6-1
>East then stole the ball from a Titan attacker at the center of the pool and found a streaking Gabby Norris (5:40) who was able to float it into the open net, 7-1
>Quick passing from the 'Eaters after the reset led to Thomas (2:50) firing one past the CSUF defense to continue the UCI run, 8-1
>With ten seconds left on the clock, Faith Tedesco lobbed the ball down a majority of the pool where Jessica Lynch was able to pick up the ball and find Jensine Bugelli in the middle for the final goal of the half, 9-1

THIRD PERIOD
>A Cal State Fullerton exclusion set up Gracie Helberg's opportunity to convert for UCI, 10-1 (7:34)
>Lynch pump faked both left and right to trick the defense which allowed her to find the back of the cage at 6:26 and Thomas (5:56) notched the hat-trick on the following offensive possession, 12-1
>Michael Strickland got involved in the scoring affair with her make from deep, 13-1 (4:59)
>After the CSUF regroup, the Titans were able to execute a set play to put a tally on the board at 3:06, 13-2
>The Anteaters took five more shots before time expired

FOURTH PERIOD
>Mica Schiavone passed the ball from the center to the wide open Bugelli who slammed the ball off the water into the bottom right corner of the cage (6:40), 14-2
>Sabina Shackelford stripped the ball from the attacking Titans, feeding M. Schiavone at 4:59, 15-2
>Cal State Fullerton called a timeout and within nine seconds of returning to action, the Titans deposited a ball into the goal (4:41), 15-3
>Helberg received the ball after the round of passes and placed the ball into the hands of Thomas who juked out the double team (2:36) before Murphy added her fourth of the game, 17-3
 
UP NEXT
UC Irvine will host Concordia (Irvine) for a Friday March 17^th affair at 6 p.m.