RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The No. 11 UC San Diego men's water polo team secured its spot in the Western Water Polo Association Championship for the ninth year in a row with a 7-6 win over Santa Clara. The Tritons improve to 20-7 on the season and records back-to-back 20+ win seasons since the 2005 and 2006 seasons.
No. 1 seed UC Davis awaits the Tritons tomorrow at noon. UC San Diego won two of its three games they played against the Aggies this season.
Defense was center stage for the game with both team's offenses struggling to get going. The Tritons held Santa Clara scoreless on power plays and
Jack Turner blocked the lone penalty shot he faced.
Skyler Munatones,
Calder Hilde-Jones and
Kaden Likins each had a pair of goals in the win.
Santa Clara opened the game with a goal from Patrick Kirk in the first couple of minutes of the game. The Tritons would equalize, but Santa Clara would score again to reclaim the lead.
It wasn't until the fourth quarter that UC San Diego would claim its first lead of the game.
Konstantin Karlov passed the ball to Hilde-Jones in front of the goal and Hilde-Jones skipped it in.
A goal from Patrick Kirk tied the game at six all with 49 seconds left. Munatones got the ball and shot with open space in front of him to take the lead with 22 seconds remaining. The Broncos looked to send the game to overtime for the second day in a row, but the Triton defense smothered Adam Low and Santa Clara could not find the back of the net.
About UC San Diego Athletics
With 30 national team championships, nearly 150 individual titles and the top student-athlete graduation rate among Division II institutions in the United States, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program annually ranks as one of the most successful in the country. The Tritons sponsor 23 intercollegiate sport programs that compete on the NCAA Division I and II levels and, in summer 2020, will transition into full Division I status as a member of the Big West Conference. UC San Diego student-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent. A total of 82 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 37 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. In competition, more than 1,300 UC San Diego student-athletes have earned All-America honors.
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