No. 3 UCLA Doubles Up No. 6 UC Irvine, 16-8

Saturday, February 22

Irvine, CA

12:00 PM (PT)

UCLA

UC Irvine

Taylor Smith scored a season-high four goals in the win at No. 6 UC Irvine today.

Photo by: Ross Turteltaub

No. 3 UCLA Doubles Up No. 6 UC Irvine, 16-8

February 22, 2025 | Women's Water Polo

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

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IRVINE, Calif. – No. 3 UCLA (10-1, 1-0 MPSF) led wire-to-wire in a 16-8 thrashing at No. 6 UC Irvine (4-6, 0-0 Big West) in the quarterfinals of the Barbara Kalbus Invitational at Anteater Aquatics Complex on Saturday afternoon. With their 39th consecutive win over the Anteaters, the Bruins improved to 39-0 in the series history.

A total of nine different Bruins scored against the Anteaters, paced by a season-high four goals from junior Taylor Smith. She finished with a game-high five total points, adding one assist against UC Irvine. Junior Anna Pearson contributed a hat trick and junior transfer Bia Mantellato and junior Lily Gess tied her season high with two goals against the Anteaters.

Sophomore Lauren Steele got the start in the cage and went the distance, registering a season-high-tying 14 saves (also against UC Irvine on Feb. 1) to go with two steals and an assist while allowing eight goals.

Last week, the Bruins trailed 7-4 at the end of the first period. But that was last week, as UCLA jumped out to a 3-0 lead at the end of the first period. The Bruins won the second period, 6-4, to build a 9-4 lead at the break Both teams drew to a 3-3 tie in the third with UCLA heading into the fourth with 12-7 advantage. The Bruins won the fourth period, 4-1, to provide the 16-8 final.

UP NEXT:
The Bruins advance to tonight's semifinals where they will face No. 1 Stanford (9-0, 0-0 MPSF) at 5:20 p.m. at UC Irvine's Anteater Aquatics Complex.

SCOREBOARD	1	2	3	4	FINAL
No. 3 UCLA	3	6	3	4	16
No. 6 UC Irvine	0	4	3	1	8

6x5 - UCLA - 8/12 - UCI - 4/12
Penalties - UCLA - 1/1 - UCI - 1/1

UCLA Goals: Taylor Smith 4, Anna Pearson 3, Bia Mantellato 2, Lily Gess 2, Emma Lineback 1, Molly Renner 1, Jojo Walters 1, Jenna Human 1, Tali Stryker 1
UCLA Saves: Lauren Steele 14

UCI Goals: Lauren Hett 2, Brooke Hourigan 1, Libby Alexander 1, Nioka Thomas 1, Madi O'Hara 1, Gracie Helberg 1, Deirdre Murphy 1
UCI Saves: Rachel Kirchner 4, Ella Walker 0