SANTA BARBARA, Calif.— No. 1 seeded UC Irvine (19-6, 7-0 BW) ousted the No. 4 seed UC San Diego (14-17, 4-3 BW), 12-6, in the semifinals of the 2023 Big West Women's Water Polo Championship.

The Anteaters are headed to their sixth straight championship game and are looking to defend their 2022 title.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>No. 4 ranked UC Irvine was out shot No. 12 UC San Diego, 26-24
>Erin Tharp made the start in the cage, blocking 12 shots in her 10th win of the season
>Tharp has recorded double figure saves in five games this season
>Nioka Thomas went a perfect 4-4 at the cage for her ninth hat-trick of the year
>Thomas has scored four goals in seven matches this season
>Libby Alexander (2-4), Elena Flynn (2-2), and Jessica Lynch (2-5) scored multiple goals in the contest
>Lynch had a game best three assists
>UC San Diego was led by Courtney Okumura who recorded four goals on nine shots and two assists
 
FIRST PERIOD
>No. 12 ranked UC San Diego won the sprint and moved quickly to open the scoring at 7:44, 0-1
>Jessica Lynch (6:45) fired from distance, skipping the ball into the bottom right corner, 1-1
>Lynch then took it down the pool, finding the wide-open Nioka Thomas (6:09) in the center for the lob goal, 2-1
>Airian Grisham threw across the Anteater offensive formation to get the ball to Thomas in the center at 3:44 to continue the run, 3-1
>UC Irvine made it four straight as Libby Alexander (1:14) took advantage of the Triton's goalkeeper leaving the cage with her shot attempt that trickled over the line, 4-1
 
SECOND PERIOD
>Thomas (5:12) notched the early hat-trick with the assist credited to Lynch, 5-1
>The Tritons were able to capitalize on the powerplay opportunity, hitting the near side of the net, 5-2 (4:03)
>Mica Schiavone and Lynch passed the ball back and forth before Lynch (2:00) let it fly barring it down, 6-2
>Taking her time, Elena Flynn (0:22) locked in and hit the upper left corner, 7-2

THIRD PERIOD
>UC Irvine picked up right where they left off, Thomas (7:36) backhanded the ball into the cage off the dish from Kili Skibby, 8-2
>From the outside, Skibby hit from distance at 6:49 with help on the fake out by Lynch, 9-2
>UC San Diego halted the Anteaters run at 2:07 with a shot from long range, 9-3
>The Tritons were able to string together back-to-back goals, this time off the 6-on-5, 9-4 (1:23)

FOURTH PERIOD
>UCSD continued a 4-0 run with two more shots early in the quarter (7:34, 6:42) to bring it within three, 9-6
>Flynn (5:02) came up with the penalty shot put-in off the ricochet, 10-6
>Alexander cashed in on the nearside opportunity after receiving the pass from Skibby at 4:04, 11-6
>Jensine Bugelli found the back of the empty net with 21 ticks left on the clock after taking the ball down the pool after the Tritons made an errant turnover, 12-6
 
UP NEXT
No. 1 seeded UC Irvine is headed to the championship finale on Sunday Apr. 30 to defend their title against the No. 2 seed Hawai'i for the fifth consecutive match up between the two squads in the title game.