On Friday, Nov. 4 against No. 14 Santa Clara, the Tritons played well on both sides of the pool, setting the pace early on by netting three goals in the first quarter.

“As a team our defense was solid. The main thing though, I was pretty pleased with how we controlled the match from early on,” head coach Denny Harper said in an interview with UCSD athletics representatives.

Senior goalkeeper David Morton — a cornerstone of the Triton defense this season — made 10 saves for UCSD on the night.

Ending the quarter with a 3-1 lead after a tremendous save from Morton, the Triton goalkeeper recorded another big block to start the second quarter. But the Mustangs brought the game to within one after Santa Clara’s Matt Kochalko pounded the ball into the net, putting the score at 3-2.

UCSD maintained the lead in the second quarter with a long-range goal from David Higginson, followed by goals from sophomore Lukas Skya, freshman Joe Dietrich and senior Chris Barton.

Up 7-2 at the end of the first half, the Tritons extended their lead, not letting the Mustangs any closer than four points throughout the remainder of the game.

On Sunday, the Tritons faced No. 1 UCLA in their last home game of the regular season. The Tritons also honored their four graduating seniors: Graham Saber, William Brown, Matt Kerchner and Morton.

Morton will leave the school as the record-holder for most career saves, recording 1,021 in his four years playing for UCSD.

Unfortunately, the Tritons didn’t have enough to overcome top-ranked UCLA.

“I thought we put forward a great effort, much better than the last time we had a top team here,” Harper said.   “I thought we really made UCLA work throughout the entire game. They knew they couldn’t really let their guard down and I’m pleased that we competed.”

UCLA scored the first three goals with less than 7:30 minutes on the clock. But the Tritons kept the pressure on, and took one back with just over a minute and a half left in the quarter, bringing the score to 3-1.

The Bruins continued to outscore the Tritons in the following periods, although Morton did well to deny UCLA on nine attempts.

The Tritons will have one more match before their postseason, against UC Irvine on Wednesday, Nov. 9.
“We’ll use the Irvine game as a preparation game to catapult us into the WWPA [Championships],” Harper said.

UCSD will then prepare for the WWPA Championships, going into the tournament with the second seed on Nov. 17 – 20, to be hosted at Canyonview Pool.