After going 2-2 at the SoCal Tournament back in September, the No. 11 UCSD Men’s Water Polo team fell to No. 10 CSU Long Beach last Friday, Oct. 12 at Canyonview pool.

The Tritons took an early lead against the Lancers, going into the half up 4-3.

In the third quarter, both teams recorded four points apiece, with the Tritons maintaining a slight 8-7 advantage.

“For three quarters, we were executing the game plan to a tee,” UCSD Head Coach Denny Harper said to the UCSD Athletics Department.

With one quarter remaining, the Tritons fell apart, as the Lancers were able to find the holes in the UCSD defense.

Triton goalkeeper sophomore Cameron Ravanbach tallied a career-high 15 saves, but was unable to fend off the Long Beach drive to goal. The Lancers scored four goals in the closing quarter, while UCSD was unable to respond. “I thought Cameron absolutely stepped up,” Harper said. “When you get any goalie making 15-plus saves a game, it’s pretty fantastic.”

Junior utility Luke Syka — UCSD’s second top goal scorer — led the Tritons with four goals, filling in the gap left by junior driver Josh Stiling. Stiling leads all Tritons with 49 goals in just 13 games.

Senior utility Brian Donohoe finished with two goals, while two-meter sophomore Joe Dietrich and senior utility John Butler both contributed one goal apiece.

The Tritons keep their heads above .500, as the loss dropped them to 7-6 overall and 6-2 in the Western Water Polo Association.

It’s yet to be decided whether the loss will sink UCSD further down the national rankings, before the Tritons face WWPA opponent Air Force on Thursday, Oct. 18.

The last time UCSD went up against Air Force was back on Saturday, Sept. 15 in the Norcal Tournament hosted by Stanford.

The Tritons forced double-overtime to take the 8-7 win.