POMONA, Calif. –  The Anteaters completed their undefeated weekend at the Gary Troyer Invitational with a 22-14 victory over Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday afternoon.
 
UC Irvine scored 20+ goals in three of the four games over two days to average 20.3 goals scored per game.
 
Center Wyley Dale paced the scoring with five goals, a career best, followed by Johann Thrall with four.  

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Jasper Dale was the other Anteater to score multiple goals in the contest with two
• Eleven UCI players tallied a goal each
• Freshman Jayson Hubbard dished out a career high four assists
• Zayd Mahmoud started in cage and made one save through eight minutes
• Jacob Pyle entered the game for the remaining three periods where he made four stops
• The center contingent of W. Dale, Tyler Padua, and Ethan Spoon each drew two exclusions
• Ethan Shipman stole the ball a game best three times
• Pomona-Pitzer was led by Logan Colman with four goals, one assist, three drawn exclusions, and two steals

SCORING BREAKDOWN

• First period: No. 6/7 UC Irvine kicked off the contest with a high-scoring eight goal period. The Anteaters scored in spurts with two touching the back of the net within the first minute from Gage Verdegaal (7:26) and Cole Francisco (7:05). Three goals (5:43, 5:21, 4:26) were stuffed between two Pomona-Pitzer power play scores before going on to score three more before the end of the half to lead 8-3.
  • Johann Thrall (3), Thomas Cass (1), Wyley Dale (1), Francisco (1), Samuel Otta (1), and Verdegaal (1)
• Second period: The Anteaters posted two consecutive scores to start the second stanza. Tyler Padua received the ball and passed out to Alex Lopez (7:31) and then Verdegaal collected the rebound from the initial save for the feed to Wyley Dale at 5:49 to push the margin to 10-3. The Sagehens out-scored UCI in the final 5:30 of the period, 3-2, as Pomona-Pitzer still trailed 12-6.
  • Jasper Dale (1), W. Dale (1), Lopez (1), and Keegan McGann (1)
• Third period: For the first four possessions in the second half of the game, each side saw two goals hit the back of the cage and both Anteater tallies were off power plays. UCI quickly added two more before Pomona-Pitzer had two straight scores. The 'Eaters closed out the period with three unanswered to lead by nine, 19-10.
  • J. Dale (1), Tyler Laymon (1), Brody Luke (1), Maddox McEwen (1), Padua (1), Ethan Shipman (1), Thrall (1)
• Fourth period: It was all W. Dale for No. 6/7 UC Irvine in the final eight minutes, netting all three Anteater goals. The Sagehens tried to start a rally as they outscored the Anteaters 4-3 but were unsuccessful in their efforts as UCI toppled Pomona-Pitzer, 22-14.
  • W. Dale (3)

 
UP NEXT
No. 6/7 UC Irvine heads out to Riverside for a 6 p.m. meeting on Wednesday Oct. 9 at No. 19 California Baptist.