STOCKTON, Calif. - The men's water polo team claimed the No. 1 seed for this upcoming GCC Tournament, the conference announced on Sunday night. 

Pacific claims back-to-back first seeded rankings following their 2017 GCC Championship run last season. The Tigers (11-11, 4-1) will have a first round bye and face off against No. 4 UC Irvine (8-15) on Saturday, Nov. 17th.

Due to the Southern California fires, the GCC Tournament will be hosted by Long Beach State at Lindgren's Aquatics Center. The Tournament was previously hosted by Pepperdine at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool.

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GCC Tournament Info:

Golden Coast Conference Tournament (Fri. Nov. 16th - Sun. Nov. 18th)

Location: Lindgren's Aquatics Center (Long Beach, Calif.)

Seeding: No. 1 Pacific, No. 2 Pepperdine, No. 3 Long Beach State, No. 4 UC Irvine, No. 5 San Jose State

Weather: Overcast, high 70s ℉ , low 50s ℉, winds E from 2-3 mph. 

Links: Tournament Central, Live Stats / Live Stream 

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Last Time Out:

• The Tigers split two matches last weekend in their regular season finale with a 14-8 win over San Jose and 12-7 loss to No. 10 UC Davis. 
• Luke Pavillard led the way for his team with nine goals and 12 points over the weekend.
• The junior shot .381 in his two appearances and tallied six steals for the Orange and Black.
• Luis Araya eclipse the 100th career goal mark on Saturday against SJSU. The junior now has 101 during his three-year tenure.  

Back-To-Back GCC Titles:

• The Tigers won their second straight GCC title this past week with their win over San Jose. UOP heads into the tournament with an overall record of 11-11, 4-1 in conference.
• The Tigers earned a record of 13-2, the best record in conference, since joining the GCC in 2016. 
• UOP claimed their first-ever GCC Championship with 12-9 win over Pepperdine and 9-5 win over UC Irvine. 

 Name A Better Duo:

• Engin Ege Colak and Luke Pavillard continue to put themselves in scoring positions to lead the Tigers.
• The two juniors rank in the top three in conference in goals scored with Pavillard tallying 73 and Colak adding 62 for the year.
• Both Pavillard and Colak also rank in the top five in the GCC in total points with Pavillard recording a conference-leading 101 points. 
• The attacking duo have accounted for 27 hat tricks this season. 

X-Factor:

• Luis Araya has proven to be an X-factor for the Tigers tallying 38 goals and tallying a conference-leading 48 assists for a total of 86 points this season.
• The junior held the longest streak with a goal scored this season for the Tigers with 12 consecutive matches.
• Araya ranks in the top three or better on the team in goals, assists, points, and field blocks (11).

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Scouting the Opponent:

No. 4 UC Irvine (8-15, 1-4):

• The Anteaters are looking to snap a five-game losing streak, coming off an 8-7 loss to Long Beach State last Friday. 
• UCI will be led by sophomore utility Jason Evezard. The South Africa native has racked up a team-best 59 goals to go with 21 assists. 
• Irvine's keeper, Bryon Rivers, will also be a player to look out for leading the Golden Coast Conference with 186 saves. Rivers holds a 9.60 goals against average, fifth best in the GCC.
• The last time these two teams faced off the Tigers snuck away with a 14-11 victory on the road. Ege Colak led with seven goals in the match.