Equestrian
The UCSD Equestrian Western Team is still ranked No. 1 in Southern California after hosting a Western show on Jan. 24 and Jan. 25 at Del Mar Horse Park.
Western sophomore captain Alicia Cunningham-Bryant set a great example for the rest of the team by winning all of her classes for the weekend. Open rider senior Linda Torres also brought the team points, as she was awarded Reserve Champion both days. Advanced rider freshman Lindsay Minor placed in the top three in her classes, as did novice riders senior Morgan Messing and junior Kali Felts.
Sophomore Charlene Zil and sophomore Nicole Reagan also placed well in their Intermediate II class, riding against some tough competition from Cal Poly Pomona and Mount San Antonio College.
The equestrian team will be traveling to Cal Poly Pomona and Pepperdine next weekend to compete in a pair of English shows.
Women’s lacrosse
The UCSD’s women’s lacrosse season opener was Jan. 31 against Santa Clara University.
The Tritons got off to a good start in the first half with the first goal of the season scored by senior Elaine Lui. The Broncos answered back with three goals of their own, putting the score at 3-1. The Tritons fought back, responding with goals from freshman rookies Elisha Agee and Katie Frehafer. They ended the first half strong, tying the score at 4-4 with another goal from Lui.
Coming out with power in the second half, the Tritons dominated with a good defense, forcing many turnovers. Lui continued her rampant scoring with two more in the second half, finishing the game with four goals. But, despite all their efforts, the Tritons came up short by a final score of 9-6.
The Tritons have put the loss behind them and look forward to their upcoming game against Arizona State University.
Ice hockey
Coming off three straight wins against UCLA, Texas and Cal State Northridge, the UCSD ice hockey team looked forward to its weekend with No. 1 Arizona State, playing twice in two days. Despite a long drive, the Tritons still looked good on Jan. 30, only down 2-0 after the second period. However, a few bad bounces led to a three-goal outburst by Arizona State. Though the Tritons played an even 55 minutes of hockey, five minutes was enough for the Sun Devils to put up a win of 7-0.
Saturday afternoon was a different story. Early on, the Tritons seemed intimidated by Arizona State’s aggressiveness and hard forechecking. However, the goaltending of sophomore Gavin Gruber kept the game close and gave the Tritons a chance to turn the game around.
The Tritons’ turnaround was sparked by a late second-period goal that closed the gap to 3-1. In the third period, UCSD came out flying, never letting up on either end of the ice. Four unanswered goals, including three by freshman Kolin Ozonian in the third period, sealed the game for a 5-3 win.
The Tritons are anticipating a strong season finale with games at San Diego State and their final home game of the season on Feb. 6 at UTC Ice Town against Fresno State at 10:15 p.m.