Helping UC Irvine defeat a pair of ranked teams at the Stanford Invitational, UC Irvine senior Jillian Yocum (Riverside, Calif./Riverside Poly HS) earned Big West Women’s Water Polo Player of the Week accolades.
The goalkeeper made a total of 32 saves over four matches at the two-day tournament in Palo Alto, helping UCI defeat No. 7 San Jose State and No. 18 UC Davis en route to a 2-2 record.
Yocum stopped four shots in UCI’s 9-6 victory in the tournament opener, handing the Spartans their first loss of the season. In an 11-3 loss to top-ranked Stanford, Yocum had six saves and held the Cardinal to their second-lowest goal total of the season.
On day two of the tournament, Yocum recorded her second-highest single-game save total with 14 in a 13-6 triumph over the Aggies. She kept another high-powered offense in check in the fourth place match, saving eight shots in a 9-4 defeat to No. 4 Cal. The nine goals allowed represented just the third time all season that the Bears had been held to single digits.
Yocum finished the Cal match at No. 2 on the UCI career saves list with 713. She also presided over the 250th win in program history as the ‘Eaters finished the invitational in fourth place.
Others nominated: Madeline Sanchez (CSUN); Miranda Schrader (UC Santa Barbara); Chloe Barr (Hawai‘i)