SANTA CLARA, California – The 12th-ranked UC San Diego men's water polo team used solid defense to complement its potent offense in a 16-8 win at No. 20 Santa Clara Thursday afternoon.
The Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) contest was the penultimate regular season league match for both squads.
The Tritons improved to 12-8 overall and 5-2 in the WWPA, while the Broncos dropped to 12-13 and 2-5.
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HOW IT HAPPENED
Trailing 4-2 after the opening quarter of play, UC San Diego struck for five goals in the second frame and led, 7-5, going into halftime.
Down 5-3 with just under five minutes remaining in the second quarter, the Tritons scored four consecutive goals as
Brendan Nugent,
Karlo Krmek,
Vedran Latkovic, and
Calder Hilde-Jones all found the back of the net. Krmek's tally came on a penalty shot and the Latkovic strike was on a power play.
The Tritons scored nine goals in the second half while holding the Broncos to just three.
UC San Diego's third quarter mirrored its second as the team added another five goals to its total and led, 12-7, with one quarter remaining.
Kaden Likins,
Manuel Augusto, Nugent, Hilde-Jones, and Krmek all scored in the third.
Hilde-Jones scored two more in the fourth quarter to bring his total to four on the day. Latkovic picked up another one and
Alex Zamanian scored with 2:44 left in the game to account for the final, 16-8, score.
Alexander Nemeth made seven saves and had three steals for the Tritons.
The Tritons were 5-for-9 on power play opportunities and the Broncos were 2-for-6. Santa Clara actually held a slight, 32-30 lead in shots.
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UP NEXT
UC San Diego completes its regular season at league-leading and ninth-ranked UC Davis on Saturday, November 6, at noon. Following that, the WWPA Tournament, which will be hosted by UC Davis, is set to run November 19-21.
For the team's full season schedule, click
here.
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About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 84 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.
