CLAREMONT, Calif.  ? The 9th-ranked UC San Diego men's water polo team led after the first quarter but fell to No. 8 Loyola Marymount 12-10 in the Western Water Polo Association Championship game on Sunday evening.  LMU outscored the Tritons 5-3 in the second quarter which proved to be the difference.  The Tritons got four goals from A.J. Kotanjian while Daniel Garcia added two scores.  The Tritons finish the year at 20-11, the fourth time in the last five years the Tritons have won 20 games.  Kotanjian was named to the WWPA All-Tournament first-team along with Adnan Jerkovic.  Garcia earned all-tournament second-team honors.

UCSD outscored LMU 2-1 in the first quarter with Garcia accounting for both goals.  But Garcia's hot start was muted when he was whistled for his second ejection less than five minutes into the contest and effectively neutralized for the rest of the evening. LMU put up five goals in the second quarter and took a 6-5 lead into halftime.  The teams each scored three times in an exciting third quarter. UCSD scored the first two, a penalty shot by junior Steven Donohoe and a brilliant Chance Vermilyea re-direct of a pass from Jerkovic on a 6-on-5, to take its final lead at 7-6.  LMU outscored UCSD 3-2 in the final quarter for the 12-10 win. On the night, the Lions converted 6-of-10 extra man opportunities, compared to just 2-of-11 for the Tritons. Goalie David Morton recorded seven saves.

"We played with the heart of a champion," said Head Coach Denny Harper, who has 14 WWPA titles on his resume. "But not having Garcia really handcuffed us and you don't win games with those kind of man-up numbers. Still, it was a winnable game---a couple of plays here or there and the result could have been different.

"But you can't take anything away from LMU. Those were two good teams out there tonight and I think their goalie, Andy Stevens, was probably the difference. He played very well."

The offensive output marked the 19th time this year, that the Tritons have scored at least 10 goals in a game. 

UCSD entered the WWPA tournament as the third highest-scoring team in the nation, trailing only SFNY and USC.  UCSD was averaging 11.75 goals per game and scored 44 goals in three games at the WWPA championships.

The Tritons rebounded from a disappointing 12-17 mark in 2007.