LA JOLLA, Calif. - UC San Diego entered the fourth quarter with a nine-goal deficit, but the Tritons weren't ready to give up yet. Led by senior Joe Dietrich, the Tritons scored five times in the fourth. However, it wasn't enough as UCSD (16-11) fell 20-11 to Stanford (26-4) in the 2014 National Collegiate Men's Water Polo Championship third-place game on Sunday at Canyonview Aquatic Center.

"The feeling of a great season is, quite honestly, overwhelming," head coach Denny Harper said. "We had such a great year, and now that it is over, with a couple great seniors here, that's really the feeling. I think that's how the players feel about it."

The Tritons started the final quarter with two goals from Dietrich who recorded his third hat trick of the season. The Layfayette, Calif., native wasn't the only Triton to record a hat trick on Sunday. Senior Josh Stiling picked up his 13th hat trick of the season and finished the day with four goals.

Stanford started the game off with two unanswered goals. But with 3:46 left in the quarter, Stiling notched a cross-cage goal to put UCSD on the board. 

After Stanford scored its third goal of the game, the Tritons found themselves on the Cardinal's end of the pool. With four seconds on shot clock, Dietrich skipped a shot toward the cage, but Stanford's goalie Drew Holland tipped it out, giving the Tritons a new shot clock. With the new shot clock, Dietrich scored to cut Stanford's lead to 3-2 at the end of the first quarter.

The Cardinal scored on the first possession of the second quarter, but Dietrich put the Tritons right back in it by converting on the power play. After Stanford's Cody Smith gave his squad a 5-3 lead, Stiling pulled the Tritons within one with 6:10 left in the quarter.

Stanford then went on a 5-1 run to close out the half. Sophomore Andy Moore scored the Tritons' only goal during that run.

Stiling completed his hat trick less than a minute into the third quarter. But the Cardinal went on to score the next five goals of the quarter.

With UCSD down nine, Dietrich scored back-to-back goals for the Tritons early in the final quarter. Senior Luca De Vivo notched his first of the match with 4:08 left in the game.

After De Vivo found the back of the cage, the Tritons got a huge stop from Cameron Ravanbach. The senior goalie then found David Higginson who scored on breakaway. Stiling recorded his final goal of the day with 1:10  left to play.

Ravanbach finished the year tying UCSD's first place single season saves record. The La Jolla native finished the year making an incredible 302 stops.

“It was the perfect way to end my career," Dietrich said. "Obviously, I would've done anything to get the win (against Stanford). Just going out, playing with the guys that I play with, my friends and teammates, and having it end on the perfect stage, was just amazing.”

In addition to finishing fourth in the NCAA Championship, Stiling capped of his stellar career at UCSD by being named to the 2014 NCAA Men's Water Polo All-Tournament Second Team.

“The outcome of these last two games, is nothing to take away from the season that we've had and the careers that we've had at UCSD," Stiling said. "Making it this far was the cherry on top to one of the best periods of my life. I'm just glad that I got to share it with some of my best friends and a great coach.”

BOX SCORE
UCSD                   2            3            1             5     -        11
STAN                     4            6            5             5     -        20

GOALS
UCSD: Joe Dietrich 4, Josh Stiling 4, Luca De Vivo 1, Andy Moore 1, David Higginson 1
STAN: Bret Bonanni 8, Alex Bowen 4, BJ Churnside 3, Cody Smith 2, Adam Abdulhamid 1, Nick Hoversten 1, Adam Warmoth 1

SAVES
UCSD: Cameron Ravanbach  4
STAN: Drew Holland 12

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