IRVINE, Calif. – No. 1 seeded UC Irvine (17-6, 7-0 BW) is set to open up the 2023 Big West Women's Water Polo Championships against No. 8 seeded Cal State Fullerton (11-19, 0-7 BW) on Friday (Apr. 28) in the quarterfinals.

FINALS
No. 1 seed UC Irvine vs. No. 2 seed Hawai'i
Sunday, Apr. 30 | 12:00 p.m. | UCSB Campus Pool
Watch | Live Stats | Tickets | Tournament Central | Finals Notes

THIS WEEK'S STORYLINES
>UC Irvine enters the weekend with an 17-6 record and rank fourth according to the CWPA weekly poll, their highest ranking this season
>Jessica Lynch was named the Big West Player of the Week on April 26th
>UCI won the Big West regular season title outright with their 11-9 victory over No. 7 Long Beach State for a perfect 7-0 record in conference play
>The last time the 'Eaters completed a perfect league slate was in 2017
>The Anteaters are on a nine game win streak, finishing their home contests with a 7-1 record
>UC Irvine looks to continue their success in the pool and win back-to-back Championship titles and claim the auto qualifier to the NCAA Tournament
>UCI holds a 5-4 record in neutral site contests this season
>In their time in the Big West, UCI is 27-5 (0.843) all-time in the conference championships
>Elena Flynn set the Big West record of most goals in the tournament last year with 11
>Jessica Lynch ranks second in the Big West for assists in conference games (10), third in points (23), and sixth in goals (13)
>Faith Tedesco and Erin Tharp are first and fourth in the Big West for goals against average in conference games, with 6.55 and 8.13 averages respectively
 
NOTES
>UC Irvine set a new Big West tournament record of goals in a contest in their 18-5 victory over Cal State Fullerton and tied the margin of victory (+13) record previously set by the 2018 Anteaters
>Hawai'i also tied the new record of 18 goals in the Rainbow Wahine's 18-7 victory over CSUN in the quarterfinals
>No. 5 Hawai'i enters the contest with a 21-5 record, 6-1 in Big West play and are on a three game win streak
>In UH's last time out, they defeated No. 7 Long Beach State 13-12 in the semifinals of the Big West Championships
>The two teams last faced off on April 15th where UCI won 11-10
>Flynn sits 14th all-time in career goals (125) and is three goals away from catching 13th
>Lynch is now two goals away from entering the career goals leader board to catch 17th all-time with 118
>Flynn and Nioka Thomas are now tied 16th all-time for goals in a season (51), are one goal away from catching 14th
 
SEMIFINALS RECAP
>No. 4 UC Irvine was out shot by their opponent, 26-24
>Tharp made the start in the cage, blocking 12 shots in her 10th win of the season
>Tharp has recorded double figure saved in five games this season
>Thomas went a perfect 4-4 at the cage in her ninth hat-trick of the year
>Thomas has scored four goals in seven matches this season
>Jensine Bugelli went 3-4 at the cage along with her game-high three steals
>Libby Alexander (2-4), Flynn (2-2), and Lynch (2-5) scored multiple goals in the contest
>Lynch had a game best three assists
  

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SEMIFINALS
No. 1 seed UC Irvine vs. No. 4 seed UC San Diego
Saturday, Apr. 29 | 11:00 a.m. | UCSB Campus Pool
Watch | Live Stats | Tickets | Tournament Central | Semifinals Notes

ABOUT THE OPPONENT
>T-No. 12 UC San Diego enters the contest with a 14-16 record, 4-3 in Big West play and are on a five game win streak
>In UCSD's last time out, they defeated No. 11 UC Davis 9-8 in the quarterfinals of the Big West Championships
>The two teams last faced off on March 10th where UCI won 10-9
 
QUARTERFINALS RECAP
>No. 4 UC Irvine outshot their opponent, 37-23
>Tharp made the start in the cage, blocking two shots in her ninth win of the season
>Tedesco came into the cage n the second period and Jordan Frost was brought in part way through the third, each blocking one shot each
>Both Thomas (4-8) and Flynn (4-6) scored four goals in the contest
>Jensine Bugelli went 3-4 at the cage along with her game-high three steals
>Libby Alexander was the final Anteater to have a multi-goal game with her perfect 2-2 shooting
>Mica Schiavone had a match best three assists
>Sabina Shackelford, Jessica Lynch, and Gabby Norris dished out two times each
 

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QUARTERFINALS
No. 1 seed UC Irvine vs. No. 8 seed Cal State Fullerton
Friday, Apr. 28 | 9:00 a.m. | UCSB Campus Pool
Watch | Live Stats | Tickets | Tournament Central | Week 15 Notes

ABOUT THE OPPONENT
>Cal State Fullerton enters the contest with a 11-19 record, 0-7 in Big West play
>In CSUF's last time out, they dropped a 12-5 decision to No. 23 CSUN
>The two teams last faced off on March 12th where UCI won 17-3
 
WEEK RECAP
>No. 4 UC Irvine was outshot their opponent, 37-35
>Erin Tharp made the start in the cage, blocking 13 shots and has now had five games with double figure saves this season
>Kennedy East led the game in goals with her hat-trick (3-8)
>Flynn recorded two goals in the contest
>Jessica Lynch dished out a game high three assists to go along with her two goals and a pivotal field block
>Brooke Banta had a multi-goal game, scoring two on her three attempts
>Lynch ranks second in the Big West for assists in conference games (10), third in points (23), and sixth in goals (13)
>Kili Skibby is fourth in conference play for steals with 11
>Faith Tedesco and Tharp are first and fourth in the Big West for goals against average in conference games, with 6.55 and 8.13 averages respectively