The UCSD men’s water polo team finished fourth in the Southern California Tournament on Oct. 14-15, but it could have easily been on top.
As expected, University of Southern California, UC Berkeley, UCLA and UCSD, considered the nation’s four best teams, reached the semifinals. After two tough first-round games, the No. 3 Tritons faced the No. 1 Trojans in the highly anticipated semifinal matchup, which USC took by a narrow 9-10 margin.
“Our game with USC just proves what we’re capable of,” UCSD head coach Denny Harper said. “Not everybody can say that you’re capable of being able to hang with a team that has that much talent and that many weapons — I thought we played great.”
In the first game of the tournament, the Tritons faced the University of the Pacific. The Tritons’ offense struggled in the first half, but the Tigers failed to capitalize on UCSD’s inept play. With several strong saves by senior goalkeeper Jeremy Randall, the game was tied 5-5 at halftime.
“We had a lot of opportunities, but we couldn’t finish it off,” said junior utility A.J. Kotanjian, who led the team with three goals. “We were hitting posts and people’s arms.”
Pacific started the third quarter with a 3-0 run and seemed to be on its way to an upset. The Tritons drew an exclusion, and after a timeout, Harper sent in substitutes to revive the defense. The subs slowed the Tigers’ attacks and five unanswered UCSD goals pushed the score to 10-8.
Harper credited the help off the bench for the offensive surge.
“It was clear to me that our starters were in a funk, so I brought in that whole group and they kicked butt,” Harper said. “They won the game for us — plain and simple.”
Pacific finally scored with three seconds remaining in the third quarter to bring the game within one heading into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Tritons were able to score two goals early to go up by three, 12-9. The Tigers roared back with two goals of their own, but UCSD held on to the one-point lead for a win, 12-11.
“We weren’t running the same defense that we were when the starters were in there,” Pacific head coach Mike Maroney said. “Hats off to the San Diego guys that came off the bench and did a great job.”
The Tritons faced the Air Force Academy later in the day and continued their run. After trailing 2-1 at the end of the first quarter, UCSD went on to outscore the Falcons in each remaining quarter to win by three, 10-7.
On the next day of competition, the Tritons battled undefeated USC.
The Trojans got on the board first, but senior two-meter offense Ty Lackey answered right away to tie it at 1-1. UCSD was unable to capitalize on a power play, but after a USC score, Kotanjian put one into the net. The Trojans then had a nice breakaway attempt, but Randall made a great defensive play, only to be called for an ordinary foul. He yelled in disgust and was given a penalty, making scoring easy for USC.
UCSD could not deliver with a man advantage, allowing the Trojans to score another goal to go up by two, 2-4. Kotanjian scored with only five seconds remaining in the quarter to trail by one, 3-4.
With the score at 4-6 at the beginning of the third quarter, UCSD’s offense struggled to get a good look at the goal, but Lackey finally scored five minutes into the quarter to bring the score to 5-6. After the two teams traded goals, USC converted a penalty shot to keep its lead at two at the end of the third, resulting in a score of 6-8.
The Trojans scored first in the final quarter, but the resilient Tritons added three goals of their own to tie the game, 9-9, including a penalty shot by Lackey.
“San Diego is a very mentally tough team,” Trojan head coach Jovan Vavic said. “They keep trying and don’t give up. [The Tritons] did a good job creating counterattack opportunities … that actually hurt us.”
After USC went up by one on a beautifully executed offensive set with 2 minutes, 8 seconds remaining, UCSD was unable to respond with a man advantage, losing a close one, 9-10.
“It was bad luck,” junior driver Nestor Dordoni said. “I had a turnover at the end that just put us behind. We should have had it.”
The Tritons then faced the Bruins for third place, but it was nothing like the dramatic win they had a couple of weeks ago. UCLA scored the first five goals before UCSD was able to get on the board late in the second quarter. Looking tired and unfocused, the Tritons could not battle back, and went on to lose, 3-12.
“Water polo is tough when you play two games in a day, and it was hard for us to come back [after the USC loss],” Harper said. “But that aside, UCLA played great.”
“To be fair, I was guilty of some hearsay last time, with the comments I made about [Bruins’ head coach Adam Krikorian],” Harper said. “I shouldn’t have said that; it wasn’t true. [Krikorian] wasn’t pissed off at the referees that game and I apologized to him.”
While there was a misunderstanding between the two coaches, UCLA’s blowout win was loud and clear.
It gets no easier for UCSD as the team goes back on the road to face its conference rival, Loyola Marymount University, on Oct. 19.
