MEN’S LACROSSE
In its home opener, UCSD picked up its second divisional win against USC on March 2. Plagued by flat starts in their first two away games, the Tritons refused to let that happen again, especially at home.
UCSD played hard and took a 6-2 lead into the half. Upset that it did not capitalize on several scoring opportunities, UCSD set out to dominate coming out of the break. The Tritons succeeded, possessing the ball almost all of the third quarter and scoring five goals. Led by Dave Miller, USC came back, capitalizing on several man-up opportunities in the fourth quarter. But UCSD sealed the game with a pair of goals and was able to get the entire team some valuable game time experience. The Tritons’ offense was paced by Nicholas Dean, Ross Stensrud and Matt LaFiandra, as well as midfielders Phil Smith and Bret Loughridge. Defensemen Chris Washington and Brandon Hays also had standout games. Goalie Wade Tam continued his hot goaltending, registering 13 saves.
WOMEN’S LACROSSE
The UCSD women’s lacrosse team spent the past weekend in Arizona. After a mediocre performance against Arizona State on March 1, UCSD raised the bar and took it to Arizona on March 2. The very physical, fast-paced game remained close, but by halftime, the Wildcats led 6-3.
UCSD dominated the second half of play and fought an intense battle until the very end, but the Tritons fell short with a final score of 7-5.
Elaine Lui led UCSD with three goals, while Elaine Horowitz and Lauren Heintz each contributed one. Solid play by the Triton’s defense made it difficult for Arizona to start things up offensively. Notable defensive players included Daphne Banash, Amanda Overton, Kim Woo, Crystal Grover and Lynn Chouw. The UCSD women’s lacrosse team has now proved what it is capable of as the Tritons enter the second half of their season.
WRESTLING
The UCSD wrestling team competed at the Western Regional Championships held in Reno, Nev., this past weekend. After a strong finish at its last tournament in San Jose, Calif., UCSD had high hopes for the tournament. Other colleges competing at the tournament included Arizona; San Jose State; Utah State; and the University of Nevada, Reno. UCSD finished in third place overall, with four wrestlers qualifying for the National Championships in Lafayette, Penn.
Quiche Roura and Andy Wang both took third place, and Eric Smith finished in second place overall in each of their respective weight classes. UCSD’s Kyle Kleinschmidt took first place in his 174-pound weight class for the third year in a row, narrowly beating his opponent in the finals by a score of 5-4. Last year, Kleinschmidt took sixth place overall at nationals.
ULTIMATE
The UCSD ultimate teams traveled to Northern California this past weekend to compete at the two-day Stanford Invite Tournament, which was attended by many of the top men’s and women’s ultimate teams from across the nation.
UCSD’s men entered the tournament seeded No. 10. On March 1, UCSD got off to a good start, beating Washington 12-10 after the Tritons threw an air-bounce backhand 13 inches off the ground, 15 yards for the game-winner. However, after some close matches, UCSD fell to 1-3 on the day, losing to UC Berkeley, British Columbia and Wisconsin.
The low standing pushed UCSD to the lower “”Beer Bracket”” of the tournament for the second day of competition. The Tritons played ferociously, beating Carelton 12-10 in the first round. Against Chico State in the second round, UCSD’s young players came out strong in the first half of the game, giving UCSD an 8-3 lead at the half, which the team held on to for a victory of 15-14. This placed the Tritons in the finals against Washington State, where they lost 13-8.
The women’s ultimate team, seeded third, opened the tournament on March 1 with a powerful win over Pacific Lutheran 13-3. UCSD continued flowing through the rest of the day with two strong showings against Penn State and UC Santa Cruz. Finishing with three wins on the first day, the women’s team automatically advanced to the quarterfinals on March 2 against Oregon.
UCSD breezed through its quarters with a 15-7 win over the Ducks and prepared to meet British Columbia in the semifinals. UBC jumped out to an early lead over UCSD, and even though the Tritons rallied back to get within one point at 8-7, they eventually lost 15-10.
UCSD’s success on March 1 was due partly by Manisha Daryani’s play in the last game of the day, scoring four points, as well as Alicia White’s strong defense. Also, Laura Weiss and Korin Lee kept UCSD in contention in the quarter and semifinal games on March 2.
UPCOMING EVENTS
March 8
Badminton vs. UCSB & UCLA at UCLA
Sailing South 5&6 at Santa Barbara
March 9
Men’s Lacrosse at Chapman
Women’s Lacrosse at UCLA
Women’s Rugby at Claremont College
March 12
Men’s Lacrosse vs. Loyola Marymount (RIMAC Field)
— Compiled by Anu Kumar
Sports Editor
