IRVINE, Calif. – No. 7/7 UC Irvine takes on two top 25 teams in their season opener at the Joust Tournament in Riverside on Jan 24, first facing No. 25 Pomona-Pitzer before battling No. 3/4 USC.
 
Week One Notes
 
GAME SCHEDULE
No. 7/7 UC Irvine vs. No. 25 Pomona-Pitzer
Friday, January 24 | 9:00 AM | Lancer Aquatics Center
Live Stats

No. 7/7 UC Irvine vs. No. 3/4 USC
Friday, January 24 | 1:30 PM | Lancer Aquatics Center
Live Stats

THIS WEEK'S STORYLINES
> UC Irvine enters the week ranked seventh in both the CWPA Weekly Poll and in the Association of College Water Polo Coaches poll
> UCI opens up the 2025 campaign at the Joust Tournament in Riverside playing two games in one day
> The Anteaters will face both No. 25 Pomona-Pitzer and No. 3/4 USC in the opening weekend for the 'Eaters
> No. 25 Pomona-Pitzer finished the 2024 season with a 25-10 overall record and a perfect 12-0 in the SCIAC Tournament
> The Sagehens used a 17-game win streak to help lift them to their third straight NCAA Division III National Championship title
> UCI has won 15 straight meetings against Pomona-Pitzer and are looking to remain unbeaten all-time versus the Sagehens
> No. 3/4 USC heads into the weekend with a perfect 2-0 record after taking down both Biola (W, 21-6) and then No. 10 LMU (W, 16-10) at the Beach Invite
> The Women of Troy ended 2024 with a 18-9 overall record, 4-2 in the MPSF, and took a first round exit in the NCAA Championship to conference foe Stanford (L, 8-3)
> USC returns Olympians in Emily Ausmus (USA, freshman) and Tilly Kearns (Australia, senior) for the 2025 campaign
> Additionally, Trojan top scorers and All-American selections in Rachel Gazzaniga and Ava Stryker highlight this season's roster and gained international experience with Team USA in November as they won a gold medal in the Pan-American games

NOTES
> For the second straight season, UC Irvine was picked to finish atop the Big West in the regular season with 44 total points and three first place votes. The Anteaters last won the regular season crown in the 2023 season and finished second in the 2024 campaign behind the Rainbow Wahine and ahead of the Beach
> Big West Preseason Team selection Nioka Thomas, an instrumental piece of UCI's offense and defense, who sat out of the 2024 campaign to train with the Australian national team ahead of the Paris Olympics, returns to the pool in 2025
> UCI returns now sophomore attacker Lauren Hett off her Big West Freshman of the Year campaign. Hett finished 2024 second on the squad in field blocks (10), goals (40), points (53), and third in steals (25).