LOS ANGELES, Calif. ? The 7th-ranked UC San Diego men's water polo team lost to No. 6 Loyola Marymount 10-9 on Saturday afternoon on the LMU campus. UCSD led for the entire first-half, but a Lions goal with :18 remaining gave LMU the victory. A.J. Kotanjian scored three times to lead the Tritons, while Adnan Jerkovic added two scores. Goalkeeper David Morton recorded nine saves. With the loss, UCSD drops to 14-9, while Loyola Marymount improves to 13-8.
UC San Diego led for the entire first half and all but a little over a minute of the third quarter. Three different players helped UCSD jump out to a 3-1 lead and a 5-4 lead at the break. The Triton's lead moved to 6-4 when A.J. Kotanjian scored just 24 seconds into the second half.
The teams traded goals on successive possessions, a 6-on-5 tally by Edgaras Asajavicius with 7:05 to play and an even strength goal by UCSD's Adnan Jerkovic to make it 7-5 with 6:44 to play in the third quarter.
LMU then scored the next two goals, one from Tim Heafner at 5:19 and the other by Max Schlegel at 3:34, to tie the game for the first time since 4-4 at the 4:06 mark of the second quarter. Schlegel finished with three goals.
UCSD countered with a 6-on-5 goal by Graham Saber to regain the lead at 8-7 with 2:22 to play. As the quarter came to a close, Lormant took over. His goal with 1:!5 to play tied the game at 8-8 and the Lions would not trail again.
With 21 seconds gone in the fourth and final quarter, Lormant scored again to give the Lions their first lead of the game at 9-8. However, two possessions later A.J. Kotanjian scored his third of the game to tie it at 9-9 with 6:23 to play.
The teams would then rely on their defense as neither team could take advantage of a 6-on-5. Then with 42 seconds to play the Lions drew an ejection and set-up Lormant's no-look goal as the 6-on-5 expired for the win.
Also scoring in the game for the Tritons was Kneif Lohse, Daniel Garcia, Peter Gresham and Graham Saber.
UCSD is back in action on Sunday, November 2. The Tritons host UC Santa Cruz at 9:00 a.m. and host Pomona Pitzer at 1:00 p.m.
