SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The ninth-ranked UC San Diego men's water polo team was defeated, 16-11, Saturday on the road at No. 5 UC Santa Barbara.
Following the non-conference loss, the Tritons moved to 6-3 overall on the season. The Gauchos upped their mark to 11-1.
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HOW IT HAPPENED
The Tritons trailed by a single goal, 4-3, after one quarter of play.
Kaden Likins,
Vedran Latkovic, and
Brendan Nugent all scored in the opening frame.
UC Santa Barbara out-scored UC San Diego, 7-4, in the second period to take an 11-7 lead into halftime.
Calder Hilde-Jones scored twice while Likins and Nugent both added their second scores of the afternoon. Likins' goal came on a penalty shot. The Tritons cut the deficit to just two points late when Nugent's goal at 1:29 made the score 9-7. However, the Gauchos were able to pocket two goals in the final 1:01 of the quarter.
The third quarter saw both squads net three goals apiece.
Jack Ranj, and Latkovic scored, as did Hilde-Jones, his third of the contest.Â
The fourth quarter was the lowest-scoring period of the game as just three shots found the net, two by the Gauchos and one by the Tritons. Trailing 16-10, UC San Diego's
Trevor Moore scored the final goal of the game with just nine seconds remaining on the clock.
Bennett Kienast and
Alexander Nemeth split time in the cage for the Tritons.
Leo Yuno totaled eight points on four goals and four assists for the Gauchos.
UC Santa Barbara held a 37-25 advantage in shots.
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QUOTABLE FROM HEAD COACH DENNY HARPER
UC Santa Barbara is a formidable opponent, especially at home. Unfortunately, the game got away from us a little in the second quarter, but I'm proud of the team for their resilience in getting us back to within two goals on multiple occasions.Â
We now have a quick turnaround for an incredibly important week and look forward to playing in front of our amazing fans on Wednesday night.
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TRITON TIDBITS
• UC San Diego has totaled 146 goals over nine matches, just over 16 goals per game.
•
Calder Hilde-Jones and
Vedran Latkovic have scored at least one goal each in all nine games this season.
• Today was the first time this season that
Manuel Augusto was held scoreless.
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UP NEXT
During Tritons Week of Welcome with the student body back on campus, UC San Diego hosts Loyola Marymount in a non-conference match on Wednesday, Sept. 22 at 6 p.m. The Tritons then travel to Berkeley for the three-day Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Invitational, which runs Sept. 24-26 at Cal. For the 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.
