Anteaters Defeat Santa Clara In Close Finish

Sunday, September 24

Los Angeles, Calif.

11:30 a.m.

UC Irvine

7-4

Santa Clara

6-5

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Santa Clara	2	4	2	2	10
UC Irvine	4	2	2	3	11

Anteaters Defeat Santa Clara In Close Finish

September 24, 2023 | Men's Water Polo

Box Score

By: Jordan Kehoe

LOS ANGELES – In a close finish, the UC Irvine men's water polo team was able to come away with the 11-10 victory over No. 19/20 Santa Clara.

In a game that saw six ties, the Anteaters never trailed in the contest.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

Thomas Cass, Luka Krstic, and Johann Thrall paced the Anteater offense, scoring two goals each
Cass has scored in all four games this weekend, three of which were multi-goal games
Thrall recorded his second multi-goal game of the weekend
Stewart Campbell notched the game winning goal for UC Irvine
Jacob Pyle made the start in the cage, blocking 12 shots while adding a steal
Pyle has recorded double figure saves three time this season and twice over the weekend
Campbell, Krstic, and Gage Verdegaal all had two assists in the game
The Anteaters scored the first goal of the game for the 10^th time this season
No. 19/20 Santa Clara was led by Bill Barry who recorded three goals on four shots and tallied an assist and a steal

SCORING BREAKDOWN

First period: UC Irvine would score in pairs, going up two points before No. 19/20 Santa Clara scored their first goal of the contest and then putting two more in the net in response, 4-2.
- Baxter (1), Krstic (1), Padua (1), Thrall (1)
Second period: The Broncos added two tallies to knot the game up early in the period. Both teams would end up going back-and-forth to end the half all tied up, 6-6.
- Cass (1) and Verdegaal (1)
Third period: UCI come out of the halftime break to deposit two into the net. No. 19/20 Santa Clara worked the remainder of the period to come back within striking distance to remain locked up, 8-8.
- Cass (1) and Thrall (1)
Fourth period: A string of goals for each squads resulted in a 10-10 knot up. With 2:03 remaining, Campbell found a way to get the ball into the cage for the eventual game winner. The Broncos would unload severl shot attempts, but the Anteaters would emerge with the win, 11-10.
- Campbell (1), Krstic (1), Liechty (1)

NOTES

Ten goals are the most UCI has conceded to Santa Clara in series history
UCI remains undefeated against the Broncos, improving to 5-0 in the all-time series and 3-0 on neutral sites
The last meeting between these two squads was in September 2016
Three of UC Irvine's games this weekend were decided by one point

UP NEXT
UC Irvine hosts the Big West-WCC Clash, drawing a first-round match against No. 11/10 Long Beach State for a 9:15 a.m. start on Saturday September 30^th.