No. 1 Seed UC Irvine 10, No. 2 Seed Hawai'i 9 (OT)

 Box Score | UC Irvine Presser | Championship Central | Interactive Bracket
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (April 30, 2023) -- No. 1 seed UC Irvine captured the 2023 Big West Women's Water Polo Championship with a 10-9 overtime victory over No. 2 seed Hawai'i in Sunday's title match at UC Santa Barbara's Campus Pool. It is the ninth Big West Championship title in Anteater program history. 

The Anteaters, ranked No. 4 in the latest CWPA national poll coming into the championship, improve to 20-6 overall and claim The Big West's autmoatic bid into the NCAA Championship. Hawai'i, ranked No. 5 nationally, drops to 21-6 overall. UC Irvine will learn who its matchups will be in a selection show on NCAA.com on Monday, May 1 at 5 p.m. PT. 

Arian Grisham led the Anteaters with three goals for the only hat trick of the game. Kennedy East and Libby Alexander pitched in two goals each. UCI goalkeeper Erin Tharpe was named Tournament MVP with a whopping 14 saves. 

 Three Rainbow Wahine had two scores each in Lot Stertefeld, Bia Mantellato Dias and Jordan Wedderburn. 

The Anteaters held a 3-2 advantage at halftime, in a low-scoring first-half affair. UC Irvine pulled away to a 6-3 advantage in the third quarter, but not before a buzzer-beating goal from Libby Gault cut the margin to two heading into the fourth. Hawai'i scored two unanswered goals in the final period of regulation to force overtime. 

The two teams' offenses got ignited in overtime with a combined seven goals in six minutes of play. The Anteaters got two goals form Grisham, one from Alexander and Kili Skibby to get to a 10-9 advantage. The UCI defense held onto the slim advantage on the final posession to give the Anteaters the title.