IRVINE, Calif. – No. 7/8 nationally ranked UC Irvine heads to the Big West Championships as the second seed and will face the host and No. 7 seed in UC Davis in the quarterfinal round on April 26 at 2:30 p.m.

SEMIFINALS
No. 2 seed UC Irvine vs. No. 3 seed Long Beach State
Saturday, Apr. 27 | 2:00 p.m. | Schaal Aquatics Center
Live Stats | Watch | Tickets | Tournament Central

THIS WEEK'S STORYLINES
> UC Irvine enters the week at the seventh ranked spot in the weekly CWPA poll
> UCI comes in ranked eighth in the inaugural ACWPC weekly poll
> The Anteaters come into the 2024 Big West Championship as the second seed
> Senior goalkeeper Faith Tedesco was named the Big West Player of the Week on Wednesday following her effort in the cage at Long Beach State
> Tedesco ranks fifth in the Big West in goals against average (8.84), sixth in save percentage (0.477), and seventh in saves (170)
> East is tied fourth in the conference in field blocks (12) while Hett is tied ninth (9)
> Bugelli is sixth in the league with her 36 steals on the season
> Alexander is seven goals away from reaching the 50 goal in a season threshold to join 22 other Anteaters who have reached this feat and is ranked ninth in the conference for her 43 goals

ABOUT THE OPPONENT
> No. 3 seed Long Beach State enters the contest with a 21-8 record, 5-2 in Big West play
> In LBSU's last time out, they defeated No. 6 seed UC Santa Barbara, 8-6, in the quarterfinals of the Big West Championships
> The two teams last faced off on Apr. 18 where UCI prevailed 14-13 in overtime
> UCI and LBSU face off for the third time in 2024, the 'Eaters have won both meetings by one point
 
QUARTERFINALS RECAP
> No. 2 seeded UC Irvine topped No. 7 seed UC Davis, 9-6, in the quarterfinal round of the 2024 Big West Championship on Friday afternoon
> A three goal second period helped to push the Anteaters in front and maintain the advantage the remainder of the contest
> Gracie Helberg and Lauren Hett paced the Anteaters with two goals each
> Helberg went a perfect 2-2 at the cage and added an assist
> Kili Skibby, Airian Grisham, Kennedy East, Madi O'Hara, and Sara Naulty rounded out the scoring
> Skibby topped UCI in points (5) as she assisted on a game best four goals while adding one of her own
> Faith Tedesco saved eight shots in 32 minutes between the pipes
> Hett stole the ball a game high four times
> Skibby, Jensine Bugelli, and Maja Layden each chipped in two steals
 

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QUARTERFINALS
No. 2 seed UC Irvine at No. 7 seed UC Davis
Friday, April 26 | 2:30 PM | Schaal Aquatics Center
Live Stats | Watch | Tickets | Flip Card | Tournament Central | Quarterfinal Notes

ABOUT THE OPPONENT
> No. 14/13 UC Davis enters the championship with a 10-17 overall record and went 2-5 in league play
> The Aggies earned their two conference wins in the final weekend of the regular season with an overtime victory at UC San Diego (W, 17-16) before heading up to Cal State Fullerton for the win (W, 14-3)
> Grace Pelkey leads UCD in scoring with 29 goals with Gianna Nocetti closely behind with 28
> Pelkey is well rounded as she also tops the squad in steals (38) and field blocks (27)
> Kelly Hungerford leads the distribution effort for the Aggies with her 29 assists
> Bridget Miller has drawn 46 exclusions thus far in 2024, a team high
> Nellie McAdams recorded 204 saves and 25 steals between the pipes
> The Anteaters and Aggies will face off for the fourth time this season and UCI has won all three previous meetings.

LAST WEEK'S RECAP
> No. 7/8 UC Irvine took down Black and Blue rival No. 8/9 Long Beach State in overtime, 14-13 to close out the regular season
> At Long Beach State...
    -- Faith Tedesco was stalwart in the cage for the Anteaters as she collected a career high 19 saves
    -- Lauren Hett came in clutch down the stretch scoring five of the last six goals for UCI including the game winner
    -- Libby Alexander notched the hat-trick with scores in the first three periods of the contest
    -- Maja Layden and Annabelle Mundelius followed with two goals each apiece
    -- Kili Skibby and Airian Grisham rounded out the scoring effort for UCI
    -- Eight other 'Eaters deposited a shot into the cage
    -- UCI was efficient with their shots, shooting at a 0.438 clip (14-32) to LBSU's 0.283 (13-46)
    -- Grisham dished out a game best three assists while Skibby, Brooke Hourigan, and Gabby Norris all had two
    -- Hett along with Helberg each stole the ball a team best two times
    -- UCI converted eight of their power play chances (8-11) while The Beach only scored on seven (7-12)