STANFORD, Calif. - The 14th-ranked UC San Diego men's water polo team rallied for three-consecutive goals in the last few minutes of the game, but ultimately fell by a score of 14-11 to No. 4 Pacific Friday at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Invitational.
The Tritons dropped to 3-8 overall and the Tigers improved to 11-1.
The stacked tournament field at Stanford also includes No. 1 Cal, No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Stanford, No. 5 USC, No. 6 UC Davis, No. 7 Long Beach State, No. 8 UC Santa Barbara, No. 9 San Jose State, No. 10 Loyola Marymount, No. 11 Pepperdine, No. 13 UC Irvine, No. 16 Fordham, Pomona-Pitzer, and Santa Clara.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Down by five goals at 13-8, UC San Diego began its fourth-quarter run with 2:27 remaining on a score by
Matthew Wastila, assisted by
Vedran Latkovic. Less than a minute later,
Miles Wilson found the net with 1:47 left to bring the Tritons within three at 13-10. The assist was credited to
Connor Macmitchell. Latkovic figured in another scoring play at 1:11 when he took a pass from
Kaden Likins and buried it.
On Pacific's ensuing possession, Matthew Hosger scored the game's final goal with 24 seconds left, cementing the victory for the Tigers.
UC San Diego led for a good portion of the first quarter. Trailing 1-0,
Rhys Bugelli scored at 5:44 to tie it up at 1-1. Two minutes later, the Tritons took the lead on a
Brendan Nugent goal. They owned a two-goal advantage when Latkovic converted a 5-meter penalty shot at 2:47. Pacific then tied it up at 3-3 on back-to-back goals from Reuel D'Souza and Jeremie Cote. With 30 seconds on the clock,
Bennett Axline scored to give UC San Diego a 4-3 lead after the quarter.
The second quarter was all Tigers. They netted four-straight goals and held the Tritons scoreless to go up 7-4 heading into halftime.
In the third, UC San Diego won the scoring battle, 4-3. Goals came from Axline,
Konstantin Karlov, Nugent, and Latkovic. The final two came on penalty shots.
In the lead, 10-8, Pacific tallied three-straight goals to start the fourth quarter.
Latkovic (3), Axline (2), and Nugent (2) all finished with multiple goals for the Tritons.
Max Abravanel had two assists. In goal,
Alexander Nemeth made six saves.
Lion Mahalio Vukazic led all goal scorers with four. Cote and D'Souza each had three. Goalie Bae Fountain finished with seven saves.
Pacific held a 31-23 advantage in shots.
TRITON TIDBITS
• It was the first meeting between UC San Diego and Pacific since Sept. 22, 2017.
• Bugelli is the lone Triton to have scored in all 11 of the team's games.
UP NEXT
UC San Diego continues play at the MPSF Invitational with a game against No. 10 Loyola Marymount on Saturday, Sept. 24, at 9:20 a.m. The tournament concludes Sunday with the Tritons' opponent to be determined according to Saturday results.
It will be the second time this week the Tritons and Lions have squared off. The annual Battle of the Kings was contested Wednesday in La Jolla with LMU winning by a score of 10-9 in sudden victory.
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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 III and II 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.
