UCI Hosts Top-Ranked UCLA; Faces No. 3 USC On The Road

Friday, September 13

Irvine, CA

1 p.m.

UC Irvine

UCLA

UCI Hosts Top-Ranked UCLA; Faces No. 3 USC On The Road

September 12, 2024 | Men's Water Polo

By: Jordan Kehoe

IRVINE, Calif. – The Anteaters open their home slate with No. 1/1 UCLA on Sept. 13 at 1 p.m. before heading up to Los Angeles to take on another MPSF foe in No. 3/3 Stanford at 12 p.m. on Sept. 14.

Week Two Notes

THIS WEEKEND
No. 1/1 UCLA vs. No. 9/8 UC Irvine
Friday, September 13 | 1:00 PM | Anteater Aquatics Complex
Watch | Live Stats

No. 9/8 UC Irvine at No. 3/3 USC
Saturday, September 14 | 12:00 PM | Uytengsu Aquatics Center
Watch | Live Stats

THIS WEEK'S STORYLINES
> UC Irvine enters the week ranked 9th in the CWPA Weekly Poll and is slated eighth in the Association of College Water Polo Coaches poll
> The Anteaters opened the season at the Triton Invitational at UC San Diego and went 2-2
> Junior Luka Krstic earned the league's first player of the week honor of 2024 with his team best 11 points, six goals, five assists, four steals, two field blocks, and one drawn exclusion
> UCI opens home action against the top nationally ranked team in UCLA before heading up to Los Angeles for a meeting with No. 4/4 USC
> No. 1/1 UCLA enters the week with a perfect 4-0 record with four straight wins at the Triton Invite
> None of the Bruins opponents scored more than seven points (vs. UCSB 13-7, vs. CUI 26-7, vs. Pomona-Pitzer 24-4, and vs. UCSD 15-7)
> UCLA was paced by Ryder Dodd with 12 goals over the weekend where he notched three hat-tricks in the first three contests
> Garrett Griggs is holding it down in the cage with 22 total saves in three matches
> The Bruins have been strong in the opening period of their contests, outscoring their opponents 20-3 in the first period of play
> No. 3/3 USC also remain unbeaten after four games in La Jolla with a 4-0 record
> The Trojans took down Long Beach State (W, 14-6), Cal State Fullerton (W, 20-6), UC Davis (W, 18-12), and Westcliff (W, 21-6)
> Sophomore transfer from Long Beach State, Robert López Duart, leads USC with nine total goals on the weekend with three multi-goal games
> López Duart was named the MPSF Newcomer of the Week for his effort over the weekend
> Bernardo Herzer has seen the most action in the cage, playing two games and blocked 19 shots

PLAYER NOTES
> UC Irvine earned two wins over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (W, 18-8) and Concordia University Irvine (W, 24-10), but fell to No. 2/2 California (L, 20-14) and No. 3/3 Stanford (L, 14-5) at the Triton Invitational
> Jack Stevens led all Anteaters with seven goals scored
> Luka Krstic, Tyler Padua, Ethan Spoon, and Johann Thrall are all right behind Stevens with six goals each
> Gage Verdegaal dished out six assists over the four games played while Krstic and Cole Franciso had five apiece
> All four Anteaters that played in the center this weekend reigned terror with the Tyler Laymon and Padua each drawing eight exclusions and Spoon and Stevens
> Francisco and Thrall lead the team with five steals each
> All three goalies saw action in between the pipes this weekend
> Senior Zayd Mahmoud returned to action and appeared in three games where he made 12 saves and recorded three steals
> Senior Jacob Pyle totaled 17 saves in two contests
> Senior Aidan Byrne recorded a career high 10 saves in three quarters of action over CUI
> In the Big West as of Sept. 10, several Anteaters rank in the top-10 in several statistical categories: goals (9th-Stevens, 10th-Padua), assists (6th-Verdegaal, 8th-Krstic and Francisco), points (5th-Krstic), field blocks (2nd-Otta, Krstic, and Verdegaal), steals (3rd-Thrall and Francisco, 9th-Padua and Krstic), and saves (2nd-Pyle, 5th-Mahmoud, 8th-Byrne)