In a highly anticipated and close match, the UCSD men’s water polo team defeated No. 8 Long Beach State 9-8 on Oct. 1 at Canyonview Pool.
Water fight:
The win marked the third- straight victory for the Tritons over the 49ers in three consecutive weekends.
“We had played them twice before and both times were in a tournament, so we knew it would be different,” senior captain Brandon Borso said. “Our strategy was just to counterattack and out-swim them. We’ve been conditioning a lot in practice and are in really good shape, so we wanted them to play up to our level.”
The No. 5 Tritons had anticipated a tough match against perhaps one of their toughest competitors this season. As expected, the match proved to be a challenge.
In the first quarter, the defenses dominated, with both teams maintaining intense pressure to keep it scoreless deep into the first frame. However, the Tritons found a hole amid the scurry and scored the only goal of the quarter, ending it with a 1-0 lead.
After the first quarter, both teams matched each other in goals throughout the rest of the match. In the second quarter, both teams scored three goals, while in the third, the Tritons and the 49ers scored two apiece.
But the pressure came on when Long Beach State caught up to the Tritons in the fourth quarter, evening the score at 8-8 and looking for another goal for the win.
But with only 10 seconds left, and in made-for-TV fashion, Borso added another goal to his tally by placing one into the 49ers’ net, ending the match with a 9-8 victory for the Tritons.
Borso added four other goals in the victory, while sophomore Adnan Jerkovic recorded two more and senior Chris Eichholz and junior Ty Lackey added one apiece.
“On any given day, anyone can have a great game,” Borso said. “Everyone was playing really well together on Saturday.”
The victory extended the Tritons’ overall record to 17-2, with only four weeks of play left in the regular season. The past two times the men took on Long Beach State, the finishes were equally close. The first time the two teams met, on Sept. 18, the Tritons won 11-10 in overtime on a game-winning goal from senior Jonathan Hopkins. The second match ended in a 12-10 Triton victory on Sept. 25.
“Long Beach State is a really good team,” head coach Denny Harper said. “When we played them in the past, there were many critical plays throughout the game that could go either way.”
The Tritons will have a five-day break before hosting No. 12 Princeton University on Oct. 7. The Tigers currently hold a 10-2 overall record and are coming off two big wins against the U.S. Naval Academy and Johns Hopkins University.
“It will be different playing them because they are from the East and are a really fast team,” Borso said, referring to the Tigers. “We have a lot of respect for them, but we’re taking it one game at a time.”
