Senior Ryan Allred, junior Graham Saber and senior Bryce Madsen scored two goals apiece, and the Tritons led the entire game, all the way to the win.

The Tritons jumped out to a quick lead with a goal by freshman utility Dane Sequiera in the first 20 seconds of play, followed by two more goals from Madsen and Allred to make the score 3-0 with nearly six minutes still to play in the first period. CMS found the net, but was swiftly answered by goals from Allred and Saber and the scoreboard read 5-1 for the start of the second quarter.

The Tritons slowed down their scoring pace in the second quarter, as the Stags opened the quarter with two quick goals.

“They [UCSD] lost interest and I think they got mentally tweaked,” head coach Denny Harper said.

With 4:30 left on the clock, Allred made a good steal and gained possession for the Tritons. The team passed the ball down the pool and thanks to an assist from Sequeira, Madsen brought the lead back to 6-3 for the Tritons. However, the Tritons’ play grew sloppy after the strong start.

“[The game was] definitely lackadaisical,” sophomore utility Brian Donohoe said. “We came out strong and went up pretty easily and then I think we just got lazy and started playing down at the level of our competition. I hate to say it like that, but that’s really what happened.”

The second half saw a rally with no successes on either side until Donohoe sunk a long shot into the corner of the goal. CMS rallied, however, and scored three straight to cut the Triton lead to 8-6 going into the final period.

“[The team] got into kind of an odd funk, and I don’t really think that there was really ever any feeling like we might lose,” Harper said. “But it’s that time of year when they need to feel good about how they are playing.”

Despite their temperamental play, the Tritons secured the win in the fourth quarter by scoring three goals, and junior goalie David Morton shut out the Stags for the remainder of the game.

“I think this was a wake-up call,” Donohoe said. “We definitely didn’t play as well as we needed to. Tomorrow will be a good day of practice and also Thursday going into Friday’s game. UCI’s going to be a lot better than this team was. If we play like that, we’re going to get blown out, so we definitely need to ratchet things up and play a lot better than we did today.”

The Tritons look forward to two more season matches before the WWPA Championships against No. 5 UC Irvine this Friday at 6 p.m. and No. 19 Pomona-Pitzer Sunday at 12 p.m. Both games will be held at home at Canyonview Pool.