LA JOLLA, Calif. — Eamon Hennessey scored a career-high eight goals but the No. 10 UC San Diego men's water polo team was defeated, 18-14, at No. 13 LMU Sunday in the Tritons' final regular season game.
Heading into the upcoming Big West Championship, UC San Diego holds a 20-9 overall record.
LMU improved to 13-10 on the season.
The Lions scored the first five goals of the game and were able to maintain a lead throughout the game.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The first goal of the game came just 40 seconds in as LMU's Tommaso Baldineti got things going by burying a five-meter penalty shot. Abel Romero Corbalan put the Tigers up 2-0 at the 6:49 point of the opening quarter. That sequence was repeated as Baldineti scored his second goal on a power play and Corbalan again followed to move the score to 4-0 in favor of the home team. Soren Martin concluded the scoring streak with 2:45 left in the first.
Hennessey tallied his first of many at 1:53 of the first to get the Tritons on the board. With just five seconds left in the opening stanza, he struck again, this time on a power play.
The game was much more balanced in the second quarter as each team scored five times. Trailing 6-3 in the first minute of the period,
Felipe Ferreira and Hennessey went back-to-back with goals to get the Tritons within a single goal, 6-5, for the first time in the game. Corbalan notched his fourth goal of the day on a penalty shot, but UC San Diego countered less than a minute later when Triton
Finn Bugelli scored on a power play, cutting the Lions' advantage to one again at 7-6. However, that would be the final time that the Tritons pulled that close.
At halftime, the Lions led the Tritons 10-7.
The teams traded goals on several occasions in the second half. Behind by four at 15-11 in the fourth stanza, Hennessey scored on a penalty shot and
Jackson Boettner followed with a power play strike to bring UC San Diego within two at 15-13. At that point, LMU went on a three goal run and the Tritons found themselves trailing 18-3 with 37 seconds remaining in the game.
The final goal of the game, coming with 19 seconds left, was Hennessey's eighth of the day.
Corbalan struck for 10 goals in the game. LMU goalie Finn Friedland also played a big part, making 15 saves.
Boettner recorded a hat trick and also added a pair of assists for UC San Diego.
Alex Hegeman finished with seven saves.
TRITON TIDBITS
• Hennessey scored his eight goals off 11 shots (.421).
• Hennessey's previous career high for goals was four.
• UC San Diego had a 37-31 lead in shots.
• The Tritons posted a .378 shot percentage while the Lions finished at .581.
• Power play percentage was also a telling stat with UC San Diego going 3 for 13 (.231) and LMU going 5 for 7 (.714).Â
UP NEXT
UC San Diego heads to the Big West Championship Nov. 21-23 at UC Irvine.
BIG WEST STANDINGS (as of 11/10)
1. Long Beach State, 5-0
2. UC Santa Barbara, 3-2
3. UC Davis, 3-2
4. UC San Diego, 2-3
5. UC Irvine, 2-3
6. Cal State Fullerton, 0-5
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.
