LOS ANGELES - The 10th-ranked and fifth-seeded UC San Diego men's water polo team concluded the 2015 campaign with a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Championship. The Tritons fell to No. 2 Cal 20-9 in the third-place game Sunday at UCLA's Spieker Aquatics Center. UCSD came into the season picked to finish third in the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) and was the lower seed in the NCAA Championship play-in game.
The Tritons conclude the year with a .500 record, 15-15. The Golden Bears finish at 24-7.
UCSD was led by senior utility Chase Cockerill and senior two-meter Tyler Mancuso, who each recorded a hat trick with three goals each. Redshirt freshman driver Cole Martinez added two and junior driver Nick Alexander pitched in one. Starting redshirt freshman goalie Jack Turner made 10 saves. Freshman goalie Sam Thompson took over late and made a single stop.
Cal had 10 players score, with Colin Mulcahy, Johnny Hooper and Odysseas Masmanidis each putting in four. Starting goalie Lazar Andric made seven saves. Peter O'Laughlin came in as backup for the Golden Bears in the fourth quarter, but did not record a stop.
Cal put away four shots to start the game. The Tritons scored two consecutive to make it a 4-2 contest. On a six-on-five situation, the Golden Bears' Andric bit on senior utility Daniel Straub's shot fake. Straub dumped it off to Alexander and he connected with the back of the cage from the right side.
Cockerill scored next from the left side with the assist coming from Alexander. Cal put away four more before the end of the first period to lead 8-2.
The Golden Bears scored on their first possession of the second quarter. The Tritons answered back with a goal from Martinez as Cockerill found him on a counterattack.
After another Cal score, Cockerill scored two consecutive to record a hat trick and cut the margin to six. The first came on on a five-meter penalty shot after Mancuso drew the foul. The second was on a cross-cage goal from the left side with the assist coming from Martinez. The Golden Bears scored once more before halftime as Mulcahy got a skip shot past Turner.
UCSD started the second half with back-to-back goals. On the first possession of the period, Mancuso was able to draw Andric out of the cage, spun past him and tossed it into the cage.
Andric was called for an offensive foul on Mancuso during a Cal counterattack. Alexander picked up the ball and found a wide-open Mancuso as he lobbed it over Andric's outstretched arm to score the next goal.
The Golden Bears put away two more shots for a 14-7 advantage going into the final quarter.
UCSD was able to score twices in the fourth frame. Martinez fired one home from the left side on a powerplay and Mancuso completed his hat trick with a shot from two-meters. The Tritons gave up six goals in the period and fell by 11 scores.
“I thought all things considered, we played some pretty good (water) polo,” said UCSD head coach Denny Harper. “We certainly had our moments, and I think UCLA and Cal will remember who they played in this final four. It's always pretty difficult to see seniors finish their careers, but all in all, it was just a great experience.”
Five seniors played in the final game of their careers in Cockerill, Mancuso, Straub, Jacob Castro and Tiki Toplak.
With totals of six goals and four assists, Cockerill was named to the NCAA Championship All-Tournament Second Team.
BOX SCORE
UCSD 2 3 2 2 - 9
CAL 8 4 2 6 - 20
Goals
UCSD: Tyler Mancuso 3, Chase Cockerill 3, Cole Martinez 2, Nick Alexander
CAL: Colin Mulcahy 4, Johnny Hooper 4, Odysseas Masmanidis 4, Thomas Agramonte 2, Chandler Jarrels-Stickney, Thomas Carroll, Luca Cupido, Pedro Stellet, Vassilis Tzavaras, Conor Neumann
Saves
UCSD: Jack Turner 10, Sam Thompson 1
CAL: Lazar Andric 7, Peter O'Laughlin 0
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