DAVIS, Calif. — The UC San Diego men's water polo team will play for a Big West Championship title Sunday.
The second-seeded Tritons defeated tournament host and third-seeded UC Davis by a decisive 13-8 score Saturday in a semifinal at Schaal Aquatics Center.
UC San Diego will square off against Long Beach State, the five seed, Sunday at noon for the conference title and the automatic berth in the National Collegiate Championship that goes along with it.
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HOW IT HAPPENED
UC San Diego played from behind for most of the first half.
UC Davis notched the game's first goal just over a minute in when Aleix Aznar Beltran found the net. The Tritons evened it up at 4:36 when
Eamon Hennessey scored the first of his three goals on the day. That pattern continued with the teams trading goals up until 3-3 at the 3:57 mark of the second quarter.
The Aggies took the first multiple-goal lead of the day after back-to-back strikes by Tyler Mrkaich made it 5-3 with 2:43 remaining in the first half.
Yet again, UC San Diego answered with two-straight goals, one by
Bennett Axline, the other by
Felipe Ferreira. The pair of power play goals drew the Tritons even at 5-5 with 6:27 on the clock in the third period.
Following a goal by UC Davis' Will Nomora at 4:21 of the third quarter that put his team in front again at 6-5, UC San Diego found its groove and netted three-consecutive goals.
Mark Laurlund deadlocked it at 6-6 and
Ante Buzov's goal 40 seconds later gave the Tritons their first lead of the game - a lead they would not relinquish. With 54 seconds to go in the third, Hennessey converted a power play opportunity and UC San Diego was in front 8-6 heading into the final stanza.Â
After trading goals to open the fourth, Hennessey completed his hat trick with another extra-man goal at 3:20 to give his team a three-goal cushion, 10-7.
Thomas Kiesling netted a five-meter penalty shot at 1:57 to get the Aggies back within two at 10-8, but it was all Tritons from there as they claimed the next three goals. Buzov scored two-straight times to give him four on the day and
Luca Rago wrapped things up with a goal at 53 seconds to account for the final score.
Laurlund amassed a career-high six points as he dished out five assists to go along with his goal. Buzov had an assist to finish with five points on the afternoon. Ferreira (one goal, two assists) and
Lucas Romaguera (two goals, one assist) both ended the game with three points apiece.
Also weighing in heavy on the win was Triton goalie
Logan Estes, who made 10 saves in net.Â
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ANTE BUZOV/MATT USTASZEWSKI INTERVIEW
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TRITON TIDBITS
• The previous eight games between UC San Diego and UC Davis were decided by a single goal.
• It was the third meeting of the Tritons and Aggies this season with UC San Diego winning two of those.
• This is just the second season of Big West water polo in over 30 years. UC San Diego hosted the inaugural championship in 2023. The Tritons defeated Cal State Fullerton in the first round and were knocked out by UC Santa Barbara in overtime in the semifinal round.Â
• Sunday's championship game will feature two Olympic medal-winning coaches going up against one another. UC San Diego's Matt Ustaszewski and Long Beach State's Gavin Arroyo were both assistant coaches with the
United States Men's Water Polo Team that won bronze in Paris this past summer.
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UP NEXT
UC San Diego and Long Beach State play for the conference championship title Sunday at noon in Davis. The game will be broadcast live byÂ
ESPN+ and can also be followed with
FOSH Live Stats.
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 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.
