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IRVINE, Calif. -- No. 11 UC Irvine jumped out to a 3-0 lead over No. 9 Pepperdine and used defene the rest of the way to never trail and post a 12-10 win in Golden Coast Conference action on Saturday afternoon.
Tyler Padua, Dylan Patist, and Zlatan Nikocevic led the Anteaters (14-10, 2-2) with three goals each. Travis Reynolds led Pepperdine (12-13, 1-3) with three goals.
Jack Stevens earned the first goal for either team after receiving a pass from Ethan Shipman who was in the corner to make it 1-0 at the 4:38 mark of the opening quarter. Less than a minute later, Dylan Patist (3:54) knocked one in off the crossbar to make it 2-0. Luka Krstic fed the ball into the middle to Zlatan Nikocevic (2:04) to build that early 3-0 lead.
Pepperdine scored their first and second goals of the game on power play opportunities to cut the lead to 3-2 with 1:27 to play in the opening quarter. Pepperdine looked to have the tying goal, but Krstic blocked a Waves shot headed towards the goal with one second left on the clock.
The Waves would not get any closer the rest of the way.
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