IRVINE, Calif.—A spirited defensive effort from No. 6 UC Irvine (9-6, 1-0 Big West) led the Anteaters to a 10-8 victory in extra time over No. 10 UC Santa Barbara (13-3, 0-1 Big West) in the conference opener.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>No. 6 UC Irvine outshot No. 10 UC Santa Barbara, 30-29
>UCI earned four five-meter opportunities and was able to convert on two
>Faith Tedesco made the start in the cage, making three stops
>Erin Tharp entered in at goal for the second half and earned the victory in the overtime periods
>Jessica Lynch notched the hat-trick with her 3-8 shooting
>Nioka Thomas (2-3) and Gracie Helberg (2-4) each scored two goals apiece
>Six different Anteaters tallied an assist
>Kili Skibby had a game high six steals
>No. 10 UC Santa Barbara was led by C. Synder, recording two goals on six shots, one assist, and three steals
 
FIRST PERIOD
>UCI's Brooke Banta was called for an exclusion at 6:21 and UC Santa Barbara was able to find the back of the net at the end of that offense possession, 0-1
>Another Anteater exclusion set up the Gauchos as they converted on the one-man advantage, 0-2
>M. Schiavone netted the Anteaters goal on the five-meter shot with 0:02 seconds left, 1-2
 
SECOND PERIOD
>Kili Skibby stripped the ball from a UCSB player, passing the ball to Jessica Lynch who found Nioka Thomas in front of the cage for the lofted put-in (5:25), 2-2
>Gracie Helberg (4:21) spiked the ball off the water and into the cage after receiving the pass from Kennedy East, 3-2
>UCSB quickly responded at 4:07 to knot the game 3-3
>UCI passed the ball around, eventually ending up in the hands of Kennedy East who placed it in the bottom left corner of the net with some help by the water, 4-3 (2:53)
>The Gauchos answered with a goal of their own at 2:36 to keep the game locked, 4-4
>After a UCI foul, Faith Tedesco came up with a big stop to prevent UCSB from taking the lead back

THIRD PERIOD
>A 3-0 UC Santa Barbara run was capped by a Jessica Lynch goal (4:20) in the upper right 90 of the cage, 5-6
>UC Irvine was awarded a penalty shot opportunity at 2:55 and Thomas was able to slam the ball on the left side past the goalie, 6-6
>Lynch added a tally to the scoresheet to reclaim UCI's lead, 7-6
>UCSB was able to even it back out 7-all with 41 seconds remaining

FOURTH PERIOD
>Airian Grisham dished to Lynch, firing the ball past the outstretch arms of the Gaucho keeper, 8-7 (4:26)
>UCSB's Madison Walker made a huge save for the Gaucho's, blocking UCI's fourth five-meter shot of the contest at 2:23
>UC Santa Barbara used that momentum to net the game 8-8 at 2:01
 
FIRST OVERTIME PERIOD
>UC Irvine half-pool pressed the Gaucho's forcing a turnover by the two-meter marker on UCSB's side of the pool
>The Anteaters shot the ball and Nioka Thomas grabbed the deflection off the defender's hand, found Helberg who placed it into the cage with 39 ticks left, 9-8
 
SECOND OVERTIME PERIOD
>UCI fired several shots, but they were all blocked
>UC Santa Barbara called a timeout with 16 seconds left to regroup after their shot clanged off the bar
>Jensine Bugelli stole the ball from on the UCSB turnover, lobbing the ball into the cage as time expired, 10-8
 
UP NEXT
The Anteaters will travel to both UC San Diego (Mar. 10) and Cal State Fullerton (Mar. 12) next week.