LA JOLLA, Calif. – In a home exhibition game, the gold and blue began the 2022 season with a win over the Loyola Marymount Lions in a 2-1 victory.
 
The Tritons put the pressure on in the first half when redshirt freshman-transfer, Jonah Kawamura, sent the ball into the back of the net on a rebound corner kick for the Tritons. Setting the tone early, Kawamura's goal came in the fifth minute of game play.
 
Holding at 1-0 score, in the 29th minute, Jack Hagan sent a ball from the middle to the right corner of the 18-yard box where Mason Haubrich crossed it through the Lions' defense for Nick Cirrito to put it in the back of the goal. The half finished at 2-0, Tritons.
 
The Lions responded in the second half with a goal in the 74th minute.
 
UC San Diego kept the pressure on LMU with a late shot on goal from Carter Jacobus in the
86th minute that was just saved by a defender at the goal line. The Lions looked for another opportunity to score, but were unable to overcome the Triton defense.
 
QUOTABLE
With 24 different Tritons taking the field tonight, head coach Jon Pascale commented, "we have a fairly deep team with multiple guys showing us tonight why they belong out there. We have been working on specific things this pre-season and it was evident in the way we played tonight, especially against a good quality team that challenged us."
 
TRITON TIDBITS

• Each team received a yellow card during tonight's matchup.
• Between the two teams, there were a combined 20 fouls, creating physical game during the exhibition.
• Redshirt freshamn, Jonah Kawamura scored his first Triton goal and the first goal of the 2022 season for the Tritons after transferring from the University of Washington.

UP NEXT
The Tritons will be back at the Triton Soccer Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 20 for another exhibition game against NCAA Division II Cal Poly Pomona at 7:00 pm. Live stats will be available.
 
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 83 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.