The UCSD men’s water polo team traveled north for consecutive games against two teams from the powerful Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Conference on Nov. 1 and Nov. 2.
On Nov. 1, the Tritons traveled to UC Santa Barbara to take on the Gauchos, with which they had split two games earlier in the season. UCSD started out sluggish against the home team; the game was tied at one after the first period, but UCSB took a 3-2 lead going into halftime.
“”We had opportunities in the first half,”” said senior goalkeeper Lance Onken. “”The difference was we capitalized on them in the second.””
In the third quarter, the Tritons put the Gauchos away. Two consecutive goals by sophomore utility Jon Hopkins gave the Tritons the lead. A goal by sophomore utility player Clark Peterson and another on a six-on-five situation by offensive player Bryon Spicer gave UCSD four unanswered goals and a three-goal lead going into the final period. In the fourth quarter, UCSB couldn’t mount a comeback and the Tritons held on for the 7-4 victory.
“”It was a full team effort,”” Hopkins said. “”Everybody contributed.””
Onken agreed, and pointed to Hopkins’ and Spicer’s goals as key.
“”Jon’s and Spicer’s goals in the third quarter were huge,”” said Onken of his teammates’ third quarter scoring outburst.
The win at UCSB was a big one not only for the Triton team this year, but also for the program.
“”This is only the second win in Santa Barbara in [coach Denny Harper’s] 22 years at UCSD,”” Hopkins said.
On Nov. 2, the Tritons looked to take some momentum into their game at Long Beach State University against the 49ers. But the UCSD offense ran into a wall in the form of Long Beach State goalkeeper Thomas Onyshko, who had a career-high 14 saves to lead the 49ers over the Tritons 11-7.
Despite a sluggish UCSD start, the Triton found themselves down only 5-3 at halftime. However, in the second half the floodgates opened. Long Beach scored four unanswered goals to take a commanding 9-3 advantage in the third period.
Outscoring the 49ers 4-2 in the final period turned out to be too little, too late for the Tritons.
“”We turned it on the fourth,”” said Hopkins, who netted two goals in the final period to give him a total of four for the weekend. “”But it was too late. There wasn’t a lot of movement out there. It just wasn’t clicking [against the 49ers].””
Onken agreed with Hopkins’s take on the game.
“”It was a tough game. It shows that we still have some room to grow,”” he said.
The Tritons (16-10 overall) will have a test of that growth in their next game against conference and national power UC Irvine on Nov. 9 at 6 p.m. The game will be the Tritons’ final regular season home game before the WWPA tournament, which will be held at Canyonview Pool this year.
“”We’re looking forward to playing them,”” said Onken of UCI. “”This will give us more good experience against good MPSF teams.””
The Anteaters are nationally ranked No. 5.
