IRVINE, Calif. - The 11th-ranked UC San Diego women's water polo team fell victim to a sluggish second half against No. 6 UC Irvine Saturday to fall 13-7 at Anteater Aquatics Complex.

 The Tritons now stand at 11-7 overall on the year, while UCI improves to 12-6 overall. 

UCSD was led by a hat trick from Jolene Guiliana and a pair of scores from Alexis Wieseler in the loss. Courtney Miller made six stops in the cage.

The Tritons jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead behind scores from Guiliana and Wieseler to start the first quarter. After an Anteater score, the Tritons extended the lead back to a pair after Leah Gonzales rifled home a shot to put the score at 3-1. The Anteaters responded, however, and closed the period on a 4-0 run to lead 5-3 after the first quarter.

The Tritons answered in the second period, scoring three times compared to UCI's one score to enter halftime in a deadlock at six. UCSD received a pair of scores from Guiliana and one from Wieseler in the quarter.

The second half proved to be the difference, as the Tritons were held to a single score from Melissa Bartow in the third period. The Anteaters poured in seven goals in the final two quarters to win, 13-7.

To complement the five combined scores from Guiliana and Wieseler, Gonzales and Bartow tallied a score each. 

UCI was led by a hat trick from Hannah Croghan and a pair of scores from Danielle Warde and Destene Albers in the win. Jilian Yocum added seven saves in the cage.

 UCSD travels to the Claremont Convergence next weekend to play a four-game set in Pomona. The Tritons will play Occidental (2 p.m.) and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (6 p.m.) on Saturday, Mar. 7 before closing out the set with games against Hawaii (1 p.m.) and Pomona-Pitzer (5 p.m.) on Sunday. 

Box
UCSD 3    3    1    0    - 7
UCI      5    1    2    5   - 13
Goals
UCSD: Jolene Guiliana 3, Alexis Wieseler 2, Leah Gonzales 1, Melissa Bartow 1
Saves
UCSD: Courtney Miller 6

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