FRESNO, Calif. – The 2024 women's water polo season opened at Polopalooza for No. 5 UC Irvine dropping a tough contest to top-ranked Stanford, 11-9, Saturday afternoon

The Anteaters (0-1) fell behind early closing the gap throughout the match including a one-goal deficit midway through the fourth quarter.

Seven different Anteaters scored in the match with Libby Alexander and Maja Layden leading the way with two each while Faith Tedesco had nine saves in goal.

FIRST PERIOD
>The 'Eaters began with possession winning the opening sprint, but were unable to convert, and the Cardinal took the early 1-0 lead with a goal at 6:08
>Stanford went up 2-0 at 4:52 on the powerplay; the 'Eaters shut down the next power play at the 3-minute mark
>Libby Alexander got the 'Eaters on the board with the season's first goal at 1:16 to respond to a Stanford score to trail 3-1
>A powerplay in the final seconds resulted in a Maja Layden goal on a second-chance opportunity with one second left on the clock to make it, 3-2

SECOND PERIOD
>The Cardinal got a goal back with 6:13 to go in the period to go up 4-2
>Layden added her second goal of the match at 1:59 ending a three-goal scoring run by Stanford and make it 6-3
>Again, the 'Eaters put one in at the end of the period as grad transfer Brooke Hourigan scored her first as an Anteater with six seconds left to make it 7-4
>Faith Tedesco started in cage making three first-half stops

THIRD PERIOD
>The 'Eaters again won the opening sprint, but were denied any scores
>The Cardinal took advantage of a two-man advantage to go up 8-4 with 7:02 left in the period
>Jensine Bugelli brought one back at 5:45 set up by Kili Skibby to make it 8-5
>Sara Naulty missed on a penalty shot that would have closed it ot 9-6, but added her first career goal with 2:46 remaining in the third
>UC Irvine's defense shut down the Cardinal attack for the final 4:40 of the period

FOURTH PERIOD
>UCI did not win the fourth quarter sprint, but put away the first goal at 7:37 from Libby Alexander to trail 9-7
>Gracie Helberg buried a penalty shot at 5:45 to close to 9-8 before Stanford stopped the three-goal run at 5:27 to go back up, 10-8
>Stanford jumped back up to 11-8, but Madi O'Hara kept the 'Eaters alive with 2:05 left in the period
>The 'Eaters were denied closing the gap once again on a late power play with Tsanford running out the clock for the 11-9 final.

NOTES
>UC Irvine plays again Saturday in Fresno against No. 4 Cal with opening sprint set for 4:30 p.m. and streamed online on the Mountain West Network.