IRVINE, Calif. – No. 5 seeded UC Irvine (20-6, 7-0 BW) is set to open up the 2023 NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship against No. 4 seeded UCLA (20-7, 4-2 MPSF) on Friday (May 12) in the quarterfinals.

QUARTERFINALS
No. 5 seed UC Irvine vs. No. 4 seed UCLA
Friday, May 12 | 2:00 p.m. | Chris Kjeldsen Pool
Watch | Live Stats | Tickets | Tournament Central | Quarterfinals Notes

THIS WEEK'S STORYLINES
>UC Irvine enters the weekend with an 20-6 record and rank third according to the CWPA weekly poll, their highest ranking this season
>Ranking third in the country tied the highest rank in program history which was first reached in Jan. 2020
>The Anteaters are 7-9 (0.438) all-time in the NCAA Tournament and 1-8 (0.111) against the 2023 tournament field in the national championship
>UC Irvine continued their success in the pool, winning back-to-back Big West Championship titles to claim the auto qualifier to the NCAA Tournament
>In their time in the Big West, UCI is 29-5 (0.853) all-time in the conference championships
>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 despite their second place projected finish
>The last time the 'Eaters completed a perfect league slate was in 2017 (5-0)
>The Anteaters are on an 12-game win streak, holding an 8-4 record in neutral site contests this season
>UC Irvine set a 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
>Erin Tharp was named the Big West Championship Most Valuable Player after her 14 saves that happened in crucial moments of the game
>Tharp is the third UCI goalkeeper to earn MVP honors along with teammate Jordan Frost (2022) and Jenna Phreaner (2018)
>Dan Klatt was named the Big West Coach of the Year for the ninth time in his career after leading the Anteaters to their 18th straight winning season
>Tharp joined Elena Flynn and Nioka Thomas on the All-Big West First Team
>Jessica Lynch was placed on the All-Big West Second Team for the second time in her career and for her third postseason honor
>UC Irvine has now had four or more honorees on the All-Big West team in all 14 seasons they've been recognized

SCOUTING UCLA
>T-No. 3 ranked UCLA enters the contest with a 20-7 record, 4-2 in MPSF play and have lost their last two contests
>In UCLA's  last time out, they fell to T-No. 3 California 13-12 in the final seconds of the third place game in the MPSF tournament
>The two teams last faced off on February 11th where UCLA won 12-9
>This is the third time these two squads have met in the NCAA tournament and the Bruins have won both of those prior contests
>The Bruins have outscored their opponents all season (371-210), but have shown a significant offensive dominance in the third period (101-47)
>Emma Lineback leads the team in goals with 49 on the season
>Anna Pearson is another top scorer for the Bruins, netting 45 in 27 games
>Lineback scored a career-high five goals against No. 11 UC Davis earlier this season (Jan. 28) while Pearson tallied her career-best five at No. 18 UC San Diego on Feb. 4
>Georgia Phillips has been a wall in the cage for No. 5 UCLA with 194 saves
>The redshirt senior goalkeeper blocked a career-high 18 shots in the win over No. 5 Cal on Apr. 15

NOTES
>Flynn sits 14th all-time in career goals (125) and is three goals away from catching 13th
>Lynch is 18th all-time in career goals with 117 
>Nioka Thomas is now tied 14th all-time for goals in a season (52), while Flynn sits 16th all-time with her 51 tallies
>Brooke Banta will match-up against familiar faces as she played at UCLA to start her collegiate career
>The Anteaters 12.8 goals per game is a program best, topping the program standard of 11.86 set in 2022
> In the inaugural Big West Preseason Poll for the 2023 season, both Tedesco and Flynn were named to the Preseason Team
> A unique feature of this UC Irvine team is that five of the players on the roster have parents that have either coached or currently coach water polo at various levels. Those players include Nioka Thomas, Kili Skibby, Airian Grisham, Libby Alexander, and Jessica Lynch