LOS ANGELES - The 10th-ranked and fifth-seeded UC San Diego men's water polo team could not pull the upset over No. 1 UCLA and fell 17-4 in the NCAA Championship semifinal Saturday at the Bruins' Spieker Aquatics Center. The Tritons were able to put away one goal in each period. UCSD kept it a one-score game, 2-1, after the opening quarter, but was outscored 15-3 in the next three periods. The game was a rematch of last year's NCAA Championship semifinal.
The Tritons fall to 15-14 overall. The Bruins remain unbeaten with a perfect 29-0 record.
“UCLA is an incredible team this year and I wish them good luck,” said Triton head coach Denny Harper.
Senior utitlity Chase Cockerill led UCSD with two goals. Senior two-meters Tiki Toplak and Tyler Mancuso added one each. Redshirt freshman starting goalie Jack Turner made two saves. Freshman goalie Sam Thompson came on in relief and made two stops.
Nine different players scored for UCLA, with Alex Roelse pacing the Bruins with four. Danny McClintick pitched in three and Matt Farmer, Patrick Fellner and Max Irving added two each.
The Bruins scored the first two goals on consecutive possessions to take the lead. With 1:30 remaining in the first quarter, Mancuso buried a shot from the post with the assist coming from junior utility Nassim Hmeidan to cut the margin to one.
UCLA exploded for seven goals in the second frame and limited the Tritons to just one. The UCSD score came from Cockerill as he was able to find the back of the cage from outside five meters. The Bruins led 9-2 at halftime.
The Bruins put away five consecutive shots to start the second half before Toplak was able to score on a six-on-five. The Tritons trailed 14-3 before the start of the final period.
UCLA started the fourth frame with a score from Roelse. Cockerill answered back with a goal of his own. The Bruins put away two more shots before the final buzzer as UCSD fell by 13.
“I think we are a program that can generally hang for maybe a half against these powerful dominant schools that are generally in the top four or five. We just finally get warn out and I think we started to get kind of pooped,” Harper said.
The Tritons will play second-ranked Cal in the NCAA Championship third-place game on Sunday, Dec. 6 at 4 p.m. at UCLA's Spieker Aquatics Center.
BOX SCORE
UCSD 1 1 1 1 - 4
UCLA 2 7 5 3 - 17
Goals
UCSD: Chase Cockerill 2, Tiki Toplak, Tyler Mancuso
UCLA: Alex Roelse 4, Danny McClintick 3, Matt Farmer 2, Patrick Fellner 2, Max Irving 2, Chancellor Ramirez, Ryder Roberts, Anthony Daboub, Spencer Farrar
Saves
UCSD: Jack Turner 2, Sam Thompson 2
UCLA: Garrett Danner 19, Alex Wolf 6
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