No. 6 Anteaters Open Big West Play Against Cal State Fullerton

Friday, October 9

Irvine, Calif.

6 P.M.

UC Irvine

Cal State Fullerton

Photo by: Jacob Thompson/UC Irvine Athletics

No. 6 Anteaters Open Big West Play Against Cal State Fullerton

October 07, 2026 | Men's Water Polo

By: Leah Fitzpatrick

IRVINE, Calif. - The 6th-ranked UC Irvine men's water polo team returns home to Anteater Aquatics Complex on Friday, Oct. 9, as they host Cal State Fullerton for the first Big West match up of the season at 6 p.m.

ANTEATER TIDBITS
UC Irvine went 2-0 at the Gary Troyer Invitational, improving to 14-5 overall and extending its winning streak to six.
The Anteaters defeated Whittier College, 13-6, on Friday morning.
The 'Eaters cruised past Cal Lutheran, 19-9, later that same day.
Seniors Alex Lopez and Johann Thrall led the offense with six points on five goals and one assist apiece.
Senior Gage Verdegaal recorded five assists on the weekend.
Freshman Nico Assalian logged 40 minutes in net with five saves, three assists, and one steal.
UC Irvine 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 in 2024.
They also claimed the Big West Championship title and made their first NCAA appearance in 30 years in 2023.

IN THE RANKINGS
UC Irvine remained at No. 6 in the Collegiate Water Polo Association's national rankings released Oct. 7. The Anteaters held the sixth spot for the second consecutive week after climbing two places from No. 8 in Week 4. UCI opened the season at No. 13 and remained there through the first four polls, spanning the preseason through Week 3, before breaking into the top 10.

SCOUTING THE TITANS
Cal State Fullerton improved to 17-8 overall after going 4-0 at the Gary Troyer Invitational, extending its winning streak to eight consecutive games. The Titans opened the weekend with a 12-8 victory over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps before edging Chapman, 18-11, on Friday, Oct. 2. Cal State Fullerton continued its perfect weekend on Saturday, defeating La Verne, 20-14, before closing out the tournament with a 14-8 win over Whittier. Senior Ethan MacLeod leads the Titans with 64 points on 17 goals and 27 assists, while freshman Dobi Denes paces the team in scoring with 42 goals and 14 assists for 56 points. The Titans made program history on Sept. 23, cracking the CWPA National Rankings for the first time at No. 20 in the Week Four poll.

SERIES HISTORY
The 'Eaters hold a 4-0 record against the Titans since Cal State Fullerton reinstated its program in 2023. UCI and Cal State Fullerton met twice last season, with the 'Eaters earning a 15-7 victory in their conference matchup on Oct. 24 after previously defeating the Titans, 15-8, in a nonconference meeting at the UCI Invitational on Aug. 30. UCI also defeated Cal State Fullerton, 21-7, in their Big West matchup on Nov. 8, 2024. The Anteaters also defeated the Titans, 21-3, in their Big West conference matchup on Nov. 4, 2023.

OFFENSIVE FIREPOWER
The 'Eaters have scored at least 11 goals in 17 of their 19 games this season, averaging 14.4 goals per game. Seven players have reached the 20-goal mark, led by Johann Thrall with 35 goals. Alex Lopez follows closely with 34, while Cole Francisco and Wyley Dale have each scored 26. Brody Luke has added 23 goals, while Gage Verdegaal and Ethan Spoon round out the group with 20 apiece. Verdegaal leads the team in points with 48, tallying 20 goals and a team-high 28 assists. Thrall also has 48 points, adding 13 assists to his team-leading 35 goals. Thrall has recorded a team-high seven hat tricks this season, followed by Dale with five and Verdegaal with four. Lopez has three hat tricks, while Francisco and Luke have each recorded two.

MINDING THE NET
Freshman Nico Assalian has started 14 of the team's 16 games this season, compiling a 10-3 record. He has played 440 minutes in goal, recording 111 saves, 11 assists, and 18 steals while posting an 9.89 goals-against average and a .449 save percentage. Sophomore Vincent Vega has appeared in six games, including three starts, totaling 120 minutes in goal. He has recorded 36 saves, two assists, and two steals, along with a 9.07 goals-against average and a .514 save percentage. Junior Nolan Cary has seen action in four games, making two starts and playing 48 minutes. He has tallied 14 saves, two steals and posted a .412 save percentage and a 13.33 goals-against average.

COLLEGIATE FIRSTS
UCI's freshmen made an immediate impact during their first season of collegiate action. Ryan Fresca has led the group with 16 points on 15 assists and one goal. He opened his career with three points on one goal and two assists against Chapman on Aug. 28 and has recorded two or more assists in five of UCI's first eight games. River Davis ranks second among the newcomers with 11 points on eight goals and three assists. He scored his first collegiate goal against George Washington on Aug. 28 before adding his second goal and first assist against Concordia the following day for his first multi-point game. Davis became UCI's first freshman this season to record a hat trick, accomplishing the feat against Cal Lutheran on Sept. 4. Aiden Sexton also made an immediate impact, scoring twice and adding two assists against Chapman on Aug. 28 before netting his third goal of the season against Concordia on Aug. 29. He has totaled five points on three goals and two assists. Luke Kalynij scored the first goal of his collegiate career against Chapman on Aug. 28, while Noah Jurgensen recorded his first collegiate assist in his first career minutes against the Panthers. Charlie Jones capped a strong opening weekend for UCI's freshmen with the first two goals of his career, scoring against Chapman and George Washington on Aug. 28 after sitting out the 2025 season. He added two more goals against Cal Lutheran on Sept. 4 for the first multi-goal game of his career. Jones also recorded his first career hat trick against Whittier on Oct. 2.

PRESEASON HONORS
Junior Cole Francisco was named to the eight-member Preseason All-Big West Team as voted on by the conference's head coaches. Francisco is coming off a 2025 campaign in which he totaled 69 points on 31 goals and a team-high 38 assists. He is a three-time All-Big West honoree, a two-time Big West Player of the Week selection, and landed on both the CSC Academic All-District At-Large Team and the ACWPC All-Academic Team in the 2025 season.

UP NEXT
The Anteaters continue Big West play on Oct. 17, traveling to Riverside, Calif., to take on conference newcomer No. 16 California Baptist at 12 p.m.