LA JOLLA, Calif. - Steven Donohoe, a junior out of Upland, Calif., fired in a score with two seconds left in regulation to lead the No. 14 UC San Diego men's water polo team to a 12-11 victory over No. 6 UC Santa Barbara in the 5th-place matchup of the Triton Invitational Sunday afternoon.
"He's getting it," UCSD head coach Denny Harper said in discussing Donohoe's clutch performance. "We meant for that play to go to Adi but they were all over him. We did a great job of adapting and for Donohoe to rebound from missing a penalty shot earlier and score the game winner, it was an example of what he's capable of."
Donohoe finished the contest with four goals, one in each quarter, as the Tritons improved to 3-1 on the young 2008 campaign.
Senior Adnan Jerkovic (Palm Desert, Calif.) opened up the scoring against UCSB 41 seconds into the contest with a lob shot to the back left of the net. The Gauchos followed with a score 90 seconds later. That game-tying goal was followed by a 2-0 UCSD run, capped off with a spectacular one-timer shot from senior Chance Vermilyea (San Jose, Calif.) to push the score to 3-1. UCSB countered with its own 2-0 spurt, finding the back of the twine at 1:47 and 1:04 as the quarter winded down.
The Gauchos took a 5-4 advantage roughly three minutes into the second quarter. Ejections hurt UCSB on the defensive end though as Donohoe converted on a five-meter penalty with 3:18 remaining in the half. UCSD earned Donohoe another attempt about 90 seconds later but that time, his blast hit the crossbard and the Gauchos took possession. An ejection called on the Tritons with nine seconds to play in the quarter led to a score from UCSB junior Sean Castillo just before the buzzer sounded.
The third quarter featured a flurry of scoring, ending with 10 scores in the eight minutes. Senior A.J. Kotanjian (Whittier, Calif.) tied the game at 6-6 with a blast from the two-meter position at the 6:16 mark but UCSB followed with a 3-0 run. The Tritons rebounded with a 3-1 spurt to close the period, topped off by a sidearm lefty hook from Jerkovic that snuck into the bottom left corner of the net with 26 seconds remaining in the quarter to cut the Gauchos' advantage to 10-9.
UCSD failed to convert on an early one-man advantage but didn't miss its second chance, which came with roughly 4:30 to play in regulation. Senior Jeff Hunt (San Diego, Calif.) bumped the ball into the net immediately after a rebound bounced in front of the net. Hunt's scrappy play tied the contest at 10-10. After UCSB sophomore Miles Golic countered with a score at the 3:10 mark, Jerkovic launched home another score from long range to knot the match once again.
An ejection called on the Gauchos with 21 seconds left in regulation allowed UCSD to work the ball around on offense during the final seconds. The ball landed in Donohoe's hands in the last ticks and he rocketed it into the back of the net, beating the UCSB goalkeeper to his left side.
David Morton, a freshman goalkeeper out of Salinas, Calif., put together two impressive performances in net on Sunday. He registered eight saves against No. 11 UC Davis and totaled 10 stops versus UCSB.
To earn a spot in the 5th-place matchup, the Tritons topped UC Davis earlier on Sunday. In that match, Donohoe tossed in two scores through the first eight minutes to help UCSD hold a 5-2 advantage at the end of the first quarter. Early in the next period, the Tritons hit the post two times on a one-man advantage and the Aggies (1-2) turned back the other way and scored to cut the lead to 5-3. At the 4:59 mark, Kotanjian made a nice individual move in front of two defenders before rifling a shot into the right corner of the net to push the score to 6-3. After the two squads each picked up a score over the next three minutes, UCD had a chance off of a UCSD ejection to trim the difference at 1:17 to two but senior Grant Muenter hit the crossbar from the right side.
After the Aggies' head coach was ejected on a debated five-meter penalty shot, UCD went on a 2-0 run cut the lead to 7-6 with less than two minutes gone in the third quarter. The Tritons rebounded with their own 2-0 spurt, scoring on advantages both times. The two squas alternated scores back and forth with the period ending with the score at 11-8 in favor of UCSD.
Roughly three minutes into the final quarter, junior Daniel Garcia (Dimas, Calif.) sped off for a breakaway and fired the ball into the upper right corner of the net for a score. The rest of the way the UCSD lead never fell below three goals with a last-second score from the Aggies ending the final at 14-11. Donohoe finished the match with three scores to lead the Tritons.
"Absolutely happy with the way we bounced back from the Long Beach game yesterday," Harper said after the match against UC Davis. "We were very under control and I liked our demeanor all game long. Our six-on-five was excellent, our defense was excellent and I really think we have a budding star in David Morton."
On Saturday the Tritons knocked off Redlands 14-4 before suffering an 11-8 defeat at the hands of No. 9 Long Beach State.
Next week Harper's squad will travel to New Jersey to face Princeton University on Friday and then compete in a tournament hosted by the Tigers on Saturday and Sunday.
No. 2 University of Southern California defeated No. 7 Pepperdine Waves, 7-6 in overtime, to capture the 2008 Triton Invitational championship early Sunday evening.
GAME 1
UC SAN DIEGO 14, UC DAVIS 11
UCSD 5 - 2 - 4 - 3 --- 14
UCD 2 - 2 - 4 - 3 --- 11
SCORING
UCSD -- Steven Donohoe 3, A.J. Kotanjian 2, Kneif Lohse 2, Chance Vermilyea 2, Daniel Garcia, Peter Gresham, Jeff Hunt, Adnan Jerkovic, Sean Roberts
UCD -- Bennett 2, Wilson 2, Breen, Hagens, Lindsay, Lyle, Muenter, Richardson, Salit
SCORING
UCSD -- David Worton 8
UCD -- N/A
GAME 2
UC SAN DIEGO 12, UC SANTA BARBARA 11
UCSD 3 - 1 - 5 - 3 --- 12
UCSB 3 - 2 - 5 - 1 --- 11
SCORING
UCSD -- Steven Donohoe 4, Adnan Jerkovic 3, Jeff Hunt 2, Daniel Garcia, A.J. Kotanjian
UCSB -- Golic 4, Vincze 4, Castillo, Pavnovic, Watts
SCORING
UCSD -- David Worton 10
UCSB -- N/A
