In what seemed to be a clash of the NCAA water polo Titans, the eighth-ranked UCSD men’s water polo team challenged sixth-ranked Long Beach State at Canyonview Pool last Friday — a faceoff that resulted in a 12-11 defeat for the Tritons.
Guardian
Both teams came out strong to start the match, and at the end of the first quarter, the score was even at one goal apiece.
In the second quarter, UCSD’s All-American captain Jonathan Hopkins scored to put the Tritons back in the game. At the end of the half, the 49ers led the Tritons by a score of 4-3 behind the superb play of Long Beach State’s Chris Segesman, who had two goals in the quarter and finished with five goals in the game. But the game was far from over.
The Tritons battled back in the third quarter with goals from seniors Brett Allan and Vladimir Djapic and Samuels to knot the score at 6-6.
Both the Tritons and the 49ers scored three goals in the fourth quarter, including a crucial goal from Triton freshman driver Brandon Borso, who ended the night with two goals. Allan scored his third goal on a penalty shot that helped send this competition into the first of four overtime periods.
Djapic scored his third goal in the first overtime to put the Tritons ahead by one, but the 49ers’ Aaron Holloway countered with a goal of his own to tie the score again and send the game into the next overtime period.
Soon after the start of the second overtime, Kellan Hori stepped up for the Tritons to score a goal, but Long Beach rallied once again and scored what was Segesman’s fifth goal of the night.
Tied at 11, the Tritons and the 49ers headed into the first of two sudden-death overtime periods, where neither team managed to score. With 40 seconds to go in the second sudden death period, Long Beach State’s Holloway rocketed the ball into the UCSD net to make his third goal of the night and take the victory for the 49ers with a final score of 12-11.
“”Last week we had too much offense, so tonight we had to dig deep and concentrate on our defense,”” said 49er head coach Rick Azevedo after his win Friday night.
Despite the loss, Triton goalie Lance Onken played a spectacular game and had two crucial saves on penalty shots.
“”We are growing each week and the focus is on us and how we are going to play and face the opponent no matter who it may be,”” Triton head coach Denny Harper said.
With this loss, the Tritons fall to 14-3 for the season as Long Beach State improves to 6-4 overall.
The UCSD Tritons will next travel to Los Angeles to square off against Loyola Marymount university to take on the Lions on Oct. 25 at 3 p.m.
