IRVINE, Calif. – No. 7 UC Irvine men's water polo led wire-to-wire in a 15-8 win over Cal State Fullerton on the second day of the UCI Invitational Saturday at Anteater Aquatics Complex.
 
UCI (3-0) raced out to a 5-0 lead and never looked back. CSF (0-3) pulled within three late in the third frame, but the 'Eaters responded with three unanswered to close out the period. They proceeded to go up by as many as eight in the final quarter.
 
The Anteaters have scored 15 goals in each of their first three games this season.
 
BY THE NUMBERS: Junior Johann Thrall led UC Irvine with a game-high four goals on six attempts. He also had two assists. Senior Luka Krstic registered a hat trick with three goals, while junior Wyley Dale and sophomore Keegan McGann each added two. It was McGann's first career multi-goal game.
 
Senior Zayd Mahmoud started in the cage, finishing with six saves in the first half. Redshirt freshman Vincent Vega then made his collegiate debut, stopping six shots over the final 16 minutes.
 
Alec Isaacman and Ethan MacLeod paced the Titans with two goals apiece. Ethan Ivey saw most of the action in between the posts, tallying eight saves.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED: UC Irvine came out firing with five unanswered goals. W. Dale opened the scoring at the 5:49 mark, while Thrall found the back of the net twice in a two-and-a-half minute span. Cal State Fullerton finally got on the board with 56 seconds on the clock as the Anteaters held a 5-1 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
 
It was a low-scoring second period with both teams netting two goals. Krstic and W. Dale put the 'Eaters up 7-1 with 5:53 remaining, but CSF converted twice over the final 1:10 to close the gap to 7-3 at the half.
 
Krstic struck first in the third frame and the sides proceeded to trade goals until the Titans got back-to-back tallies to pull within three (9-6) at the 2:51 mark. Thrall answered with his fourth goal of the game, halting the comeback attempt. Junior Gage Verdegaal and sophomore Maddox McEwen tacked on two more before the end of the quarter to increase UCI's margin to 12-6.
 
UC Irvine continued to dominate in the fourth, pushing its lead to eight before closing out the 15-8 victory. Sophomores Ethan Spoon and Cole Francisco netted their first goals of the game, while McGann deposited his second tally.
 
UP NEXT: UC Irvine returns to Anteater Aquatics Complex this evening when it takes on Concordia at 6 p.m. to close out the UCI Invitational.
 
#7 UC Irvine 15, Cal State Fullerton 8
August 30, 2025  |  Anteater Aquatics Complex (Irvine, Calif.)

CSF      1 – 2 – 3 – 2 = 8
UCI       5 – 2 – 5 – 3 = 15

SCORING:
CSF – Alec Isaacman 2, Ethan MacLeod 2, Julian Nichols 1, Luke Vargas 1, Samuel Branco 1, Andrew Bamuevo 1

UCI – Johann Thrall 4, Luka Krstic 3, Keegan McGann 2, Wyley Dale 2, Cole Francisco 1, Ethan Spoon 1, Gage Verdegaal 1, Maddox McEwen 1

SAVES:
CSF – Ethan Ivey 8
 
UCI – Zayd Mahmoud 6, Vincent Vega 4