SANTA CLARA, Calif. - In its final Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) game, No. 6 UC San Diego found perfection. The Tritons (12-8, 6-0) took an 11-8 win against No. 16 Santa Clara (11-13, 1-4) at Sullivan Aquatic Center to conclude their conference schedule undefeated.

"Very pleased we are the regular season champs and have secured the top seed for the conference tournament," head coach Denny Harper said.

UCSD had a strong start on Saturday as it shut out Santa Clara in the first quarter and held the Broncos to just one goal in the first half.

Joe Dietrich recorded the first goal of the game after just 1:05 of play. Lukas Syka and David Higginson also scored one each to give the Tritons a 3-0 lead after the first quarter.

Higginson tacked on his second goal of the game late in the second quarter to put UCSD up 4-0. Santa Clara finally got on the board with less than a minute left in the half. Still, the Tritons added one more courtesy of Josh Stiling for the 5-1 lead at the half.

After the Broncos added another goal to start of the third quarter, the Tritons scored four unanswered goals. Matt Michalko, Luca De Vivo, Dan Lorch and Andy Moore all scored to give UCSD a seven point advantage.

Due to several Triton turnovers, Santa Clara made a push at a comeback in the fourth quarter. But despite scoring five goals, it wasn't enough for the Broncos. Chase Cockerill score two goals in the final quarter as UCSD held on to win.

"Issues with man up made it interesting," Harper said. "Up 10-3 half way into the third was great. Then we did some very silly and very uncharacteristic things for the rest of the game. We'll take the win and learn from the boo boos."

Higginson and Cockerill lead the Tritons with two goals each, and senior goalie Cameron Ravanbach finished the day with an impressive 15 saves.

UCSD will host No. 5 Long Beach State on Nov. 6 at 6 p.m. The Tritons will then wrap up their regular season on Nov. 8 as they face No.10 UC Irvine at 12:00 p.m. at Canyonview Aquatic Center.

BOX SCORE
UCSD                   3            2              4             2     -      11
SCU                      0            1              2             5     -      8

GOALS
UCSD: David Higginson 2, Chase Cockerill 2, Josh Stiling 1, Andy Moore 1, Joe Dietrich 1, Lukas Syka 1, Dan Lorch 1, Luca De Vivo 1, Matt Michalko 1
SCU: Mark Davis 3, David Guibord 2, Graham McClone 1, Evan Chang 1, John Raineri 1

SAVES
UCSD: Cameron Ravanbach  15
SCU: Matt Pritchett 7

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