UCI Travels to UCSB, Hosts Pepperdine

Nov. 10, 2009

'EATERS TRAVEL TO UCSB, HOST PEPPERDINE: Coach Marc Hunt's UC Irvine men's water polo team (14-9 overall, 2-3 MPSF) is in fifth place in the league entering a pair of games this weekend.

The `Eaters travel to UC Santa Barbara Saturday (Nov. 14) for a 12 noon game and host Pepperdine Sunday in the home finale at 2:00 p.m.

Pepperdine is in sixth place in the MPSF with a 2-4 mark and UCSB is seventh at 1-4.

UCI closes out regular-season play Nov. 21 at USC.

The MPSF Tournament is at USC Nov. 27-29.

FINAL HOME GAME FOR SIX SENIORS: Sunday's game against Pepperdine marks the final home appearance for UCI seniors Cole Bielskis, Greg Enloe, Erik Evered, James Frank, Tom Kruip and Harvey Newland. They will be recognized during the pre-game starting lineups.

`EATERS DROP TWO AT HOME: UCI lost two home games Sunday, 12-5 to Stanford in an MPSF contest and 10-9 in overtime to Concordia in a non-conference game.

Senior Tom Kruip led UCI with two goals against Stanford while senior goalkeeper Erik Evered recorded 13 saves versus the Cardinal.

Junior Kyle Kruip scored three goals in the loss to Concordia. UCI went up 9-8 with 2:31 remaining in regulation but the Eagles scored a goal with 1:24 left in the fourth quarter and then won the game in overtime.

James Frank and Brandon Johnson added two goals each for UCI.

SCORING LEADERS: Cole Bielskis leads the team in scoring with 40 goals with Tom Kruip following with 39. They rank seventh and eighth in the MPSF in scoring with averages of 1.74 and 1.70 goals per game, respectively.

Brandon Johnson has 35 goals and he ranks 14th in MPSF scoring average at 1.52 goals per game.

Greg Enloe has scored 27 goals, James Frank 23, Kyle Kruip 18, Trent Baxter 11 and Griffin Lerman 10.

IN GOAL: Junior Matt Johnson has started 20 games and has 139 saves. Senior Erik Evered has played in seven games with three starts and has recorded 42 stops.