No. 10 Anteaters Fall Short to No. 5 USC, 12-9

Saturday, February 24

Irvine, CA

1:30 PM

UC Irvine

5-8

USC

7-3

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
UC Irvine	2	2	3	2	9
Southern California	4	1	3	4	12

Photo by: Robert Huskey

No. 10 Anteaters Fall Short to No. 5 USC, 12-9

February 24, 2024 | Women's Water Polo

Box Score

By: Alex Roberts-Croteau

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. --- No. 5 UC Irvine women's water polo battled with No. 10 USC Saturday afternoon at Corona del Mar High School and Marian Bergeson Aquatics Center with the Women of Troy taking the 12-9 win in the teams' third match of the Barbara Kalbus Invitational.

Brooke Hourigan led the team with three goals and added an assist. Faith Tedesco stopped nine shots on cage.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>The lead traded hands in the third quarter and they drew even in the fourth quarter at 9-9 with 4:15 remaining in the match
>Hourigan had the go-ahead goal in the third period and completed her hat trick later in the frame
>Kennedy East and Gracie Helberg each had two goal games behind Hourigan
>Kili Skibby notched three assists, and she and Helberg each drew three exclusions

First Period
>USC took the early advantage scoring twice within 28 seconds to lead 2-0.
>Airian Grisham got one back with a powerplay goal at 5:49 in the 1st period to trail, 2-1
>USC got their two-goal lead back with 3:14 left in the first before Kennedy East got one back with 1:54 left in the period for a 3-2 deficit
>USC went back up 4-2 with a goal in the final seconds of the period

Second Period
>The 'Eaters earned a penalty shot that Brooke Hourigan poured to trail 4-3 just 47 seconds into the period
>Eight possessions went by until the 'Eaters tied things 4-4 on a Gracie Helberg goal on the powerplay at the 4:01 mark of the second
>Again the defenses held for eight possessions until USC found the go-ahead goal once again to lead 5-4 with 28 seconds left in the half, and the score would stand at that halfway through

Third Period
>Second half began with defense until the 6:53 mark with a penalty shot foul earned and Madi O'Hara capitalizing to knot things back up, 5-5
>UCI pushed ahead for its first lead of the match 31 seconds later with Hourigan scoring her second of the match to go up, 6-5
>The Women of Troy roared back with goals at the 5:10 and 4:37 marks to take the lead back, 7-6
>The visitors lengthened their lead against at the 2:41-mark before Brooke Hourigan's hat trick goal drew them back within 8-7 with 1:24 left in the period

Fourth Period
>USC took the ball and scored off the sprint to make it 9-7 with 7:35 remaining
>Helberg made it a one-goal game again, 9-8, with her second of the game with 4:59 left
>Kennedy East leveled things again with 4:15 to go on a penalty shot, 9-9
>USC buried its own penalty shot to take the lead back, 10-9, with 2:42 left
>Another penalty shot for USC went high opening the door for coach Klatt and the Anteaters
>USC's defense came up big and responded with two goals in the final two minutes to stretch their lead to a final score of 12-9

The BKI concludes Sunday with UC Irvine scheduled to play at 9:00 a.m. at CDMHS against the loser between Fresno State and Long Beach State