Coach Dan Klatt’s UC Irvine women’s water polo team returns to the NCAA Championship for the second straight year, opening against Loyola Marymount in the quarterfinals Friday, May 11, at 5:15 p.m. at Aztec Aquaplex, San Diego State University.

UCI, the fourth seed, is 24-6 overall and won its fourth consecutive Big West Conference Tournament championship with a 10-5 win over host UC Davis in the final April 29.

Loyola Marymount, the No. 5 seed, is 20-9 on the season. The Anteaters and Lions split during the regular season, with UCI winning 12-9 in Los Angeles Feb. 18 and LMU prevailing 9-6 in Irvine Feb. 25.

The Anteaters finished fifth in last year’s NCAA Championship at Ann Arbor, Mich., losing to USC, 14-9, before defeating Iona, 15-4, and Indiana, 12-8.

Since the Big West started sponsoring women’s water polo in 2009, UC Irvine has dominated, winning three consecutive league tournament titles.

In 2011, UC Irvine captured the Big West regular season title with a perfect 5-0 record and advanced to the NCAA Championship for the first time. The Anteaters finished fifth nationally, and Jessy Cardey and Cortney Collyer were named to the NCAA All-Tournament team.

Head coach Dan Klatt has been named Big West Coach of the Year for the last three seasons, while a UCI player has garnered Player of the Year distinction twice and Freshman of the Year three times.

Scoring leaders to watch this year include:

• Jessy Cardey, junior public health policy major, two-time Big West Player of the Year, who leads UCI in scoring with 66 goals this season
• Hannah Croghan, sophomore unaffiliated major, 47 goals
• Katie Croghan, senior sociology major, 37 goals
• Danielle Warde, sophomore math major, 36 goals
• Kelsey Klatt, junior psychology and social behavior major, 31 goals

Freshman goalkeeper Jillian Yocum, undeclared major, has 164 saves in 16 starts while junior Kate Avetoom, social ecology major, has 110 stops in 14 starts.

- UCI Athletics Communications
- pictured: Jessy Cardey