LOS ANGELES, Calif. -Similar to the teams first meeting a month ago, Loyola Marymount University men's water polo found themselves down 4-0 after the first period and then staged a comeback that fell just short as the sixth-ranked UC San Diego Tritons earned a 9-7 victory over the 11th-ranked Lions at the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center Saturday afternoon.
The game had a similar feel to the first meeting between the Western Water Polo Association rivals as UCSD built a 6-1 lead before LMU (13-14) came back for just a one-goal setback on Sept. 24. On Saturday, UC San Diego (21-7) took a 4-0 lead after the first period in a game that feature just two ejections per team. Brandon Borso, who took 10 shots on the game, scored a pair in the first for the early lead.
LMU began to slowly chip away at the lead, scoring goals from Cutberto Hernandez and Brian McShane to make the score 4-2 with 4:07 remaining in the first half. Jonathan Hopkins added a goal with 3:11 left to push the lead back to three, 5-2. The score remained at 5-2 at the break despite the game's first ejection, coming at 2:49 remaining to Tim Hummel of the Lions.
UC San Diego pushed the lead to 6-2 on the first possession of the game as Hopkins scored the second of his three goals on the day. Shaun Flood took advantage of UCSD's first ejection to Borso with 1:18 remaining in the third quarter. The goal cut the lead to 6-3 as the third quarter looked to come to a close. However, UCSD scored an important goal with just nine seconds remaining as Jesse Casellini scored from two-meters for a 7-3 lead.
The four-goal lead did not last as senior Endre Rex-Kiss scored on a 6-on-5 with 5:48 remaining and then scored against with 4:25 remaining in the game to make it 7-5. Borso would then score what would be the game winner with 3:17 remaining, making it 8-5. Matt Reynolds scored two more goals for the Lions to make the final margin.
UCSD nearly doubled the Lions in shots on goal but junior goalie Ian Elliott came through for the Lions, making 17 saves, including three straight on UCSD's final 6-on-5 attack. Colin McElroy made eight saves for the Tritons.
UCSD is back in action on Senior Night on November 5th against UC Davis. The game will begin at 6:00 pm in Canyonview Pool.
