The UCSD men’s club lacrosse team looked to put the finishing touches on a strong season at the U.S. Intercollegiate Associates National Championship in Plano, Texas, May 9 through 11. The Tritons were able to garner a No. 7 seed in the Division-A bracket, which led them to a matchup with conference rival and two-time defending champion UC Santa Barbara in the first round. The Tritons had already won two close games against the Gauchos, once in overtime during the regular season and again in the first round of the conference playoffs.
The Tritons’ regular season win over UCLA in February helped earn them a No. 7 seeding in the national championship tournament.
The focused Tritons had a lot of confidence heading into their first-round match, but they also knew that beating a quality team like the Gauchos three times in one season would be tough. Unfortunately, the Tritons could never get it together and fell 9-5 in a defensive struggle. Senior midfielder Brett Northart contributed three goals to the struggling Triton offense.Second-Team All Western Collegiate Lacrosse League junior attacker Chris McCall helped lead the team with one goal and two assists.
Junior midfielder Tim Carter said that adverse weather and UC Santa Barbara’s strong defensive strategy contributed to the loss.
“We are not a very deep team and the extreme heat in Texas got to us,” Carter said. “[The] Gauchos’ solid defense on All-American and Western Collegiate Lacrosse League Offensive Player of the Year attacker Nick Dean [was also a factor].”
Senior Brett Northart’s three goals against two-time defending champion UC Santa Barbara were not enough to overcome the Gauchos in the first round of the U.S. Intercollegiate Associates National Championship on May 9, as the Gauchos ran away with a 9-5 victory.
The game was still close at the end of the first half with the Gauchos leading 4-3. However, UC Santa Barbara was able to clamp down defensively and score five unanswered goals.
Junior defenseman Jason Babineau was very disappointed with his team’s loss, which he attributed to the Gaucho’s history.
“UCSB’s prior experience in big tournaments gave them the edge in the match,” he said.
The loss meant that UCSD would have no shot at the finals, but there were still consolation matches to be played and the Tritons forged on.
The team may have been disappointed in its first-round loss but it did not show in the next match against Northeastern University. UCSD pounded the competition and the match ended with a 16-7 rout.
The Tritons started slowly in the first quarter, but gained momentum after some motivational words.
“Once we got rolling, we couldn’t be stopped,” he said.
McCall later filled up the stat sheet, scoring six goals and adding an assist. Dean was also able to get on track, scoring three goals and setting up his teammates nicely with four assists.
Babineau said that the Tritons’ play returned to its usual quality.
“Once the team got comfortable, we played the type of all-around game that we have all season,” he said.
Northart had his second strong match in a row, scoring one goal and dishing out two assists. The solid win enabled the team to regain the confidence it had lost in the first match and looked to finish the tournament out strong in its final game against the University of Oregon.
UCSD did play a solid match, but the Tritons were unable to overcome six goals by Oregon attacker Julian Coffman and lost the match 9-7. The contest was close throughout, with the Tritons narrowing Oregon’s lead to only two goals in the final quarter, but the Ducks played well defensively and were able to hold on for the win. Carter turned in another impressive performance, scoring two goals and one assist.
Carter said that, similar to the earlier UC Santa Barbara game, the Tritons had difficulty in stopping the Ducks. A disappointed Babineau added that while the Tritons had been able to hold their own against athletic teams all year, Oregon “just played a little better in the match. We had trouble coping with their athleticism and could not stop Coffman’s big left-handed shot.”
The Tritons knew they could have performed better than the 1-2 showing in the national championships, but they are still proud of their success this season.
Babineau attributed the productive season to the closeness of the team.
“We had a lot of team chemistry that allowed us to play very well and have a lot of fun,” he said.
Carter said that he was optimistic about next season and expects the Tritons to improve on this year’s finish.
“We are going to be young and will have to rebuild,” he said. “But our experience this year will help tremendously.”
The Tritons finished the season with a record of 12-7.
