In a game that could have bumped the UCSD men’s water polo team one place higher on the Collegiate Top-20 poll, the No. 8 Tritons fell to No. 7 UC Irvine on Oct. 31 at Canyonview Pool, 10-6. This match marked the third-consecutive loss for UCSD at its home tank and the team’s sixth loss in its last nine chances. In the effort, freshman drivers Nathan Weiner and Adnan Jerkovic each scored a pair of goals, which helped the Tritons keep the match to within one goal through halftime, when UCSD came apart.
The biggest obstacles the Tritons faced in the contest were the Anteaters’ junior driver Dreason Barry, who was responsible for four goals against UCSD, and senior two-meter defender Dan Noon, who was credited with three. Barry was named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Week on Nov. 2 for his recent performances, including the display against the Tritons.
In the first period, Noon and Barry opened the match with back-to-back goals in the third minute of play, starting UC Irvine at a 2-0 advantage. Barry would go on to tally his second score of the afternoon in the final two minutes of the quarter.
The Tritons weren’t discouraged by the early strike. Junior driver Chris Eichholz netted a shot just prior to the two-minute mark in the first quarter, complemented by a final-possession score by Weiner with only 22 seconds remaining in the quarter.
The first three minutes of the second quarter looked like a tennis match in the way that each team was taking control of its offense and scoring. In those first few minutes, UCSD was outscored, 2-1, leaving the Tritons in a 5-3 hole in the last minute before the halftime break. But Jerkovic came through with his first goal at the 55-second mark to close the gap to one goal.
However, by then, it was too late for UCSD. Jerkovic’s score was the last Triton offensive for 8 minutes, 33 seconds — including the entire third quarter — of live play, which allowed the Anteaters to pick up three extra insurance goals.
By the time Weiner finally struck back for the Tritons in the first minute of the final period, UC Irvine was in front by an 8-4 margin, and UCSD couldn’t find a substantial enough weakness in the Anteater squad to bring the game back. Despite second goals for Weiner and Jerkovic, UC Irvine also scored twice more before time expired, concluding the match at 10-6.
The Tritons were 18-10 overall with three matches remaining. The first of those games was played on Nov. 3 against Pepperdine at Canyonview Pool; results were not available at press time. The other two matches, which will be played against noncollegiate opponents, will not factor directly into the Tritons’ record. On Nov. 5, UCSD faces off against Sunset San Diego at 6 p.m. Then on Nov. 6, also at 6 p.m., the Tritons will take on the U.S. Olympic team in an exhibition match. The Olympic team will not be represented by all of the players who competed in Athens during the summer of 2004, but rather only those athletes who partake in the sport professionally or on a full-time basis. Both of those games will be played at Canyonview Pool.
After these upcoming matches, UCSD will prepare for the Western Water Polo Association Championships, scheduled for Nov. 18 through Nov. 20 at the UC Davis Schaal Aquatic Center in Davis, Calif. The Tritons are ranked No. 2 in the WWPA behind rival Loyola Marymount University. Whichever team wins the WWPA tournament automatically advances to the NCAA Division I Final Four Championships, to be held at Stanford on Dec. 4 and Dec. 5.