The No. 6 UCSD Tritons snapped a four-game losing streak on Oct. 29 with a 9-7 victory over No. 11 Loyola Marymount University. In a high-scoring game, the Tritons extended their overall record to 21-7 with their second win over the Lions this season.
Very similar to their first matchup earlier in the year, the Tritons jumped out in front with a 4-0 lead in the first quarter, with senior Brandon Borso leading the way by scoring two of the first-quarter goals.
The strong start proved to be the deciding factor at the end of the match.
In the second quarter, Loyola Marymount began to stage a comeback with two goals from the Lions’ Cutberto Hernandez and Brian McShane to begin cutting the lead to 4-2 with four minutes, seven seconds remaining in the first half.
Fortunately, the Tritons’ senior Jonathan Hopkins brought the lead to three with a goal at the 3:11 mark, making the score 5-2 at the end of the first half.
The game featured only two ejections, the first with 2:49 left in the first half to Tim Hummel of Loyola Marymount.
The Tritons started off strong at the top of the third quarter, when Hopkins netted another goal for the Tritons with the first possession of the second half, extending the score to 6-2.
The Lions then scored off Borso’s ejection, with 1:18 remaining in the third quarter, cutting the Tritons’ lead back to three. But, junior Jesse Casellini’s 13th goal of the season gave the Tritons a 7-3 lead.
Loyola Marymount added two more goals at the start of the fourth quarter, both coming from the Lions’ Endre Rex-Kiss to make the score 7-5. Borso, fresh off his ejection, came back to score UCSD’s eighth goal of the game to give the Tritons the three-goal lead, but the Lions made one last push for the victory, with two more goals to make the score 8-7. Determined not to let the Lions come back UCSD netted one last goal to make the final score 9-7.
The Tritons almost doubled the Lions in shots on goal, but the Lions’ goalie Ian Elliot made 17 saves, preventing a worse loss for the Lions. The Tritons’ senior Colin McElroy helped lead the Tritons to victory with eight of his own saves.
Both Hopkins and Borso added three goals to the Tritons win, while senior Kevin Smoker, junior Ty Lackey and Casellini added a goal apiece to the 9-7 win.
The Tritons will host the last two games in the regular season, against No. 10 UC Davis and Sunset San Diego on Nov. 5 and Nov. 11, respectively. The last time the Tritons faced the Aggies, at the Southern California Invitational in Irvine, UCSD pulled out a convincing 13-6 victory. After the two matches, the Tritons will head to Los Angeles for the Western Water Polo Association Tournament starting Nov. 17.