LA JOLLA, Calif. ? Junior Adnan Jerkovic's floating lob shot with 28 seconds remaining on the clock lifted the 4th-ranked UC San Diego men's water polo team to its first-ever victory over 3rd-ranked UCLA on Friday evening in front of a record crowd of 1,740 at the Canyonview West Pool on the UCSD campus. With the victory the Tritons improve to 15-2 on the season while dropping the Bruins to 6-2 on the year.
Jerkovic's goal was his sixth of the night and came just 33 seconds after UCLA's Michael March tied the score up at 12 apiece. The Bruins had one last chance to tie the game but Marco Santos' shot with 4.3 seconds narrowly missed from four meters out.
The win for UCSD was the first in program history. The Bruins had defeated the Tritons all 43 previous times the two programs had met prior to the victory Friday night.
“Tonight is a prime example of good things happening to those who wait,” said 27th-year head coach Denny Harper. “I've waited a long time for this and it is definitely worth the wait.”
UCSD jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when Jerkovic scored his first goal of the night at the 5:19 mark of the first period. The Bruins stormed right back, scoring the next three goals to take a 3-1 lead before Jerkovic concluded the period with his second goal of the night to draw the Tritons within one. Scott Swanson, Santos and Matthew Jacobs each netted one goal for UCLA in the first period.
A scoring fest ensued in the second quarter as both teams traded goals to begin the stanza before Jerkovic picked up his fourth goal of the night at the 3:37 mark to tie the score at 5-5. The Tritons took a 6-5 lead on A.J. Kotanjian's first tally of the night, but that lead was short-lived as UCLA answered back just 26 seconds later at the 2:28 mark as Santos tied the score at 6-6.
Logan Powell and Grant Zider each added goals in the final two minutes of the third period to give the Bruins an 8-6 lead heading into halftime.
The Tritons scored the first two goals of the third period before Jacobs gave UCLA a 9-8 lead with just over two minutes to go in the quarter. Jerkovic brought UCSD even at 9-9 with his fifth goal of the night at the 1:25 mark, but it was the Bruins who got in the final score before the end of the quarter as March got his first goal of the game with only 9.5 seconds remaining before the fourth quarter.
Kotanjian tied the score at 10-10 for UCSD, scoring just 56 seconds into the final stanza. The Tritons took a two goal lead with under four minutes to go after Daniel Garcia scored twice at the 5:40 and 3:55 marks of the period to put UCSD up by a 12-10 score.
UCLA drew a penalty and was awarded a five meter shot at the 3:42 mark. Logan Powell drew the Bruins within one goal with UCSD by easily scoring the shot and making the score 12-11 in favor of UC San Diego.
The Tritons then drew a five meter penalty shot of their own at the 2:14 mark, but Ty Lackey hit the cross bar at the 2:14 mark, leaving UCSD ahead by one goal.
March drew the Bruins even with UCSD with only 1:01 remaining on the clock, setting the stage for Jerkovic's heroics with only 28 seconds on the clock.
Both goalkeepers played tremendously in the cage. UCSD's Jeremy Randall made several big saves on close range shots while UCLA's Will Didinger was a steady force for the Bruins, turning away many touch shots from long distance and a few more hard shots from less than five meters away.
The Tritons will look to continue their current sixth-match win streak on October 14 and 15 at the Southern California Tournament in Los Angeles. Prior to taking part in that prestigious tournament, UCSD will host its annual alumni event on Saturday, October 7, at the new Canyonview West Pool.
