Stockton, Calif. - The No. 17 Pacific women's water polo team fell to No. 5 UC Irvine after a big second quarter by the Anteaters. Rachel Krieger posted the hat trick for the Tigers in the non-conference match-up.
Megan Torre and Karolina Hlavata also scored for Pacific, but Irvine goalkeeper Annika Nelson recorded 13 saves in the cage.
Pacific led 2-0 in the first, but UC Irvine answered with five straight goals, including a 4-0 second quarter to take the lead. The Tigers pulled within 5-4 in the third, but the Anteaters scored the first two goals in the fourth to keep Pacific at bay.
Hlavata tallied 1:29 into the game from three meters out, finishing a pass from Viktoria Szmodics to the top right. Krieger gave the Tigers a 2-0 advantage finishing to the same top right corner from five meters out.
Mary Brooks put the Anteaters on the board with a skip-shot goal from the wing to pull within 2-1 after one and kick off UC Irvine's five-goal run.
In the second, Destene Albers finished from the two-meter to the near post to tie the game, and Brooks forced an exclusion on the keeper and accepted a return pass to fire it into the empty net.
Albers then cut to the cage, took a pass from Brooks and backhanded it home in transition before Hanna Lancaster placed a shot to the top left corner from five meters away to close the second quarter scoring and give UC Irvine a 5-2 lead.
The Tigers rallied in the third as goalkeeper Alexis Hollinrake started the attack with a long setup pass to Torre, who drew a foul creating space and fired a shot from four meters out to the top left corner.
Krieger pulled Pacific within 5-4 with a skip-shot to the far post with 3:53 to go in the period.
But in the fourth, Julie Swieca drew an exclusion and found Emily Carlson cutting to the goal and Carlson finished for a two-goal lead.
Gabby Pierandozzi stretched the lead to 7-4 with a cross-cage goal from three meters away with 5:52 to go.
Krieger brought the Tigers back within two, as Torre drilled a shot off the crossbar and Krieger beat Nelson to the rebound in the two-meter and finished over her to cut the margin to 7-5.
Pacific forced the action on offense, but came up empty on the next five possessions and Nelson made one save, the Anteaters recorded a field block and the Tigers hit the frame twice and committed an offensive foul.
With Pacific in full attack mode, Albers got behind the defense for a transition goal on a long outlet from Brooks and finished on the break for an 8-5 margin.
Hollinrake finished with eight saves for the Tigers, who fall to 13-16 on the year. UC Irvine improves to 17-10.
Pacific will wrap regular season play next Saturday at noon at Santa Clara, in the final Golden Coast Conference game of the season for the Tigers. Pacific has clinched the number two seed in the GCC Championship and remain alone in second place at 5-1 in conference
