UCI Heads To Big West-WCC Clash

Friday, September 20

Los Angeles, Calif.

6 p.m.

UC Irvine

LMU

UCI Heads To Big West-WCC Clash

September 19, 2024 | Men's Water Polo

By: Jordan Kehoe

IRVINE, Calif. – The Anteaters are set to face three top-20 opponents in the West Coast Conference at the Big West-WCC Clash (Sept. 20-21) on the campus of LMU.

Week Three Notes | Tournament Central

THIS WEEKEND
No. 8/8 UC Irvine at No. 15/15 LMU
Friday, September 20 | 6:00 PM | Burns Center
Watch | Live Stats

No. 5/5 Pacific vs. No. 8/8 UC Irvine
Saturday, September 21 | 1:30 PM | Burns Center
Live Stats

No. 20/20 California Baptist vs. No. 8/8 UC Irvine
Saturday, September 21 | 6:00 PM | Burns Center
Live Stats

THIS WEEK'S STORYLINES
> UC Irvine enters the week ranked eighth in the CWPA Weekly Poll and remain slated eighth in the Association of College Water Polo Coaches poll
> Freshman Cole Francisco was tabbed for his first career player of the week honor when he contributed four goals, one assist, two steals, five drawn exclusions, and committed zero exclusions over the past week of play
> UCI heads to the Big West-WCC Clash for three games, facing No. 15 LMU, No. 5 Pacific, and No. 20 California Baptist
> No. 15/15 LMU enters this week with a 3-1 record after going 1-1 in the last week
> The Lions collected a 15-10 victory over CUI before falling to No. 4 Pepperdine, 15-12
> Tommaso Baldineti leads the LMU offense with 24 goals and 14 assists thus far in the season
> Finn Friedland has seen a majority of the time in the cage where he has stopped 29 shots for a WCC leading 0.518 save percentage
> No. 5/5 Pacific remains unbeaten (6-0) after six games played over two weeks
> The Tigers took down George Washington (W, 22-7), Wagner (W, 17-9), No. 17 Navy (W, 16-12), and No. 6 Princeton (W, 12-11)
> Senior Mihailo Vukazic was named the WCC Player of the Week after netting 13 goals in four games this past week for UOP which includes a seven-goal performance against Wagner
> The two squads have not met since the semifinal round of the former Golden Coast Conference tournament back in 2022
> No. 20/20 California Baptist remains ranked 20th in the nation after a 2-1 weekend and 3-4 overall record
> The Lancers dropped 19-8 to No. 1/1 UCLA before earning two wins on Sunday against La Verne, 25-6, and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 18-12
> Caleb Teraoka leads the goal scoring effort with 13 tallies on the season followed by Bohdi Bowden with 12
> Toring Stanley has 20 points on the season with a team high 14 assists which is tied for second in the WCC
> In the cage, William Whitestone is second in the WCC with 49 saves in 152 minutes of action

PLAYER NOTES
> UC Irvine played to matches over the weekend, dropping to No. 1/1 UCLA, 12-9, and No. 3/3 USC, 15-11
> Nine goals are the most allowed by the Bruin defense thus far in the season as the 'Eaters brought the game down to the wire for UCLA's smallest margin of victory (three) in six games played
> UCI registered nine field blocks in the contest
> The Anteaters defense clamped down for the Trojans smallest margin of victory (four) through seven games
> Gage Verdegaal had a standout game versus UCLA with his first hat-trick of the year to go along with an assist
> Luka Krstic joined the hat-trick party with his three goals at USC where he also dished out an assist and added a steal
> Francisco finished the two-game stretch with a team high four goals
> Jackson Matos and Stewart Campbell both finished the weekend with two goals each
> The Tyler duo were menacing on offense with Laymon drawing a game high four exclusions against the Bruins and Padua did the same at the Trojans pool
> Jacob Pyle all 64 minutes in the cage, recording double digit saves in both contests and in his third straight game
> Pyle tallied a season high 11 blocks against UCLA and then posted 10 at USC
> In the Big West as of Sept. 18, several Anteaters rank in the top-10 in several statistical categories: assists (8th- Verdegaal), field blocks (2nd- Krstic, 5th- Padua and Shipman, 10th- Cass), saves (3rd- Pyle), and save percentage (10th- Pyle)