IRVINE Calif. - No. 15 UC Irvine men's water polo travels to No. 12 LMU for their final match of the regular season on Saturday, Nov. 15, at 1 p.m. at Burns Center. 

ANTEATER TIDBITS
• UCI finished the conference slate with a 2-3 record after falling to No. 10 UC San Diego, 8-9, on Nov. 7. 
• The 'Eaters moved to 15-11 on the season after defeating No. 7 San Jose State, 11-9, on Nov. 9.
• Wyley Dale led the 'Eaters with five goals, bringing his season total to 38
• Johann Thrall netted four this week, setting a new career-best of 58 tallies on the season. 
• Cole Francisco notched his fifth four-point performance in his last seven games, coming against UCSD. 
• The 'Eaters won back-to-back Big West regular season titles in 2023 and 2024.
• The Anteaters are 9-1 in conference during that stretch, including a perfect 5-0 mark last year.
• They also claimed the Big West Championship title and made their first NCAA appearance in 30 years in 2023.
• UCI returns nearly 80% of its scoring from a 2024 squad that netted a single-season school record 400 goals.

IN THE RANKINGS
UCI improved to No. 15 in the latest Collegiate Water Polo Association rankings released on November 12. The Anteaters climb one spot after splitting their games, 1-1, this week. 

SCOUTING THE PRIDE
No. 12 LMU has won two of its last three games to improve to 13-10 on the season. The Pride defeated Concordia,16-8, on Nov. 1, before falling to No. 12 Pepperdine, 8-15, on Nov. 8. LMU defeated No. 10 UC San Diego, 18-14, on Nov. 9, and the Pride will face No. 7 Long Beach State on Nov. 13 before meeting the 'Eaters. Graduate Student Tommaso Baldineti leads the Pride with 60 goals, followed by Junior Abel Romero Corbalan with 53 tallies on the season.  Senior Finn Friedland has stopped 146 shots for LMU. 

SERIES HISTORY
The 'Eaters have won three of the last four meetings with the Pride. LMU took the last match up, 14-11, on Sept. 19 at the Overnight MPSF Invitational. UCI defeated the Pride in their first game of the 2025 season on Aug. 29, 15-14, at the UCI Invitational. LMU and UC Irvine met in the Big West-WCC Clash in both 2023 and 2024, with the 'Eaters taking both matches. The Anteaters defeated the Pride, 12-11, on Sept. 20, 2024, and 15-8 on Sept. 30, 2023. 

LAST TIME OUT
UC Irvine dropped their final Big West match up of the season against No. 10 UC San Diego, 8-9, on Nov. 7. Wyley Dale led the 'Eaters with three goals while Cole Francisco added one goal and three assists for a four-point performance. The 'Eaters defeated No. 7 San Jose State, 11-9, on Nov. 9, for their Senior Day match. Johann Thrall led the way with three goals and one assist for a four-point outing. Luka Krstic and Wyley Dale each added two tallies in the upset of the Spartans.  

ON THE ATTACK
UC Irvine has scored 10+ goals in 22 of its 26 outings. The Anteaters' four single-digit goal games this year came against No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 USC, No. 10 UC San Diego, and No. 15 Princeton. The 'Eaters, who are averaging 13.7 goals per contest, have five players with 30+ goals on the season. Johann Thrall leads the squad with 58 tallies on the year. Luka Krstic is UCI's second-leading scorer with 42, followed by Wyley Dale with 38, Ethan Spoon with 32, and Cole Francisco with 31. With four goals this week, Thrall sets a new career-best, surpassing his 54-goal mark set in the 2024 season. Spoon and Francisco have each reached the 30-goal club for the first time in their careers. Dale's five goals this week puts him two away from reaching the 40-goal mark for the first time in his career. 

MINDING THE NET
Senior goalkeeper Zayd Mahmoud started 21 of UCI's 23 games this year, logging over 620 minutes in the cage. He has compiled 179 saves and a 11.22 goals against average. Mahmoud stopped a season-high 14 shots vs. Long Beach State on Oct. 30. Junior Blake Borders earned the start against Cal Lutheran (Sept. 6) and Biola (Sept. 27), finishing with seven and nine saves. Redshirt freshman Vincent Vega got the nod vs. UC Santa Barbara (Sept. 20) and Occidental (Sept. 27), logging nine saves against the Tigers. Redshirt Sophomore Nolan Cary got his first start against Concordia and stopped a season-best 11 shots. 

COLLEGIATE FIRSTS
Freshman Dylan Rosmann recorded his first multi-goal game in a 16-7 win over Biola (Sept. 27). Freshman Samuel Bowman scored his first collegiate goal with 1:35 left in the third quarter of a 21-7 victory over Concordia. Bowman struck again one minute later to cap a seven-goal period for the Anteaters. Rosmann also connected for his first career goal in a 13-12 win over UC Santa Barbara (Sept. 20). Sophomore Keegan McGann had the first multi-goal game of his collegiate career with two tallies against Cal State Fullerton, while sophomore Maddox McEwen netted a career-high four goals vs. Cal Lutheran. 

WEEKLY ACCOLADES
Cole Francisco was named Big West Player of the Week for the second time in his career, on Oct 22. He tallied 10 points on four goals and six assists against two top-15 ranked teams. Ethan Spoon was named the Big West Player of the Week for the first time in his career, on Oct. 1. Spoon recorded 10 goals at the Lancer Joust and netted a career-high six against Occidental. Luka Krstic was named the Big West Player of the Week for the first time this season, and fifth time in his career, on Sept. 17. Krstic had a pair of multi-goal games against the top-two ranked teams in the country, finishing with two at No. 1 UCLA and three vs. No. 2 USC. 

PRESEASON HONORS
Seniors Luka Krstic and Jack Stevens were named to the eight-member Preseason All-Big West Team as voted on by the conference's head coaches. Krstic is coming off a 2024 campaign in which he led the Anteaters with 80 points on 52 goals and 28 assists. He is a two-time All-American and first-team All-Big West selection. Stevens finished with 30 goals and 12 assists a year ago. He is a two-time All-Big West honoree. As a team, UCI was picked to finish third in the Big West Preseason Coaches Poll. The 'Eaters received 18 points to come in behind Long Beach State (29) and UC San Diego (20).

ALL-BIG WEST RETURNERS
The Anteaters return five All-Big West honorees from a 2024 squad that won their second-straight regular-season title. Luka Krstic was named to the first team, and Johann Thrall garnered second-team distinction. Cole Francisco and Jack Stevens were both honorable mention selections, while Francisco and Ethan Spoon made the All-Freshman Team.

STORIED HISTORY
UC Irvine men's water polo is in its 60th year as a program, and 59th season of competition (2020 season canceled). Since 1965, the Anteaters have put together 17 seasons with 20 or more wins, including a perfect 30-0 campaign in 1982 when they won the second of their three NCAA Championships (1970, 1982, 1988). The 'Eaters, who earned a spot in each of the first 10 NCAA tournaments, have made 22 postseason appearances.

HOME SWEET HOME
UCI is set to host the 2025 Big West Championships at Anteater Aquatics Complex, November 21-23. The conference tournament will make its way to Irvine after being held in La Jolla in 2023 and in Davis in 2024.