LOS ANGELES — Down by as many as five goals in the third quarter, the No. 13/14 UC San Diego men's water polo team rallied big time and came back to defeat No. 9/11 UC Davis by a score of 14-12 Sunday morning.
The game was for fifth place at the 16-team Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Invitational co-hosted by UCLA and USC. Sunday's game was played at Spieker Aquatics Center on the UCLA campus.
After posting a strong 3-1 record at the event, the Tritons are now 11-5 on the season. They also beat No. 9/11 Princeton as well as No. 13/16 Loyola Marymount. The team's lone loss came against consensus No. 2 USC.
The Aggies are 5-6 overall.
HOW IT HAPPENED
UC Davis scored the first goal of the game just over a minute in.
Bennett Axline evened it up at 6:13 of the opening quarter and that would be the final time the game was tied until the fourth period.
With the score 7-5 in favor of UC Davis late in the second quarter, the Aggies struck for three-consecutive goals to take a 10-5 advantage at 7:27 of the third frame.
UC San Diego began chipping away immediately. The next two goals of the game were scored by Triton
Lucas Romaguera on a pair of five-meter penalty shots.
At 12-8 Aggies mid-way through the third quarter, UC San Diego stomped on the gas, scoring the game's final six goals.
Before the third period came to a close, the Tritons scored three times, two coming from freshman
Jackson Boettner and another from
Eamon Hennessey. Credit the outstanding play in the field as one goal came on a penalty shot and another went in on a power play.
At 5:25 of the final quarter,
Ante Buzov tied the game at 12-12. The game-winner came from Hennessey a minute later on another power play and
Finn Bugelli put a bow on it with the game's final goal at 3:37.
When all was said and done, Hennessey finished with four goals and an assist. Romaguera racked up six points on three goals and three assists. Axline matched his career-high by drawing eight exclusions on UC Davis players while also scoring twice and assisting on another goal.
Christian Hammonds had an excellent all-around performance, finishing with a goal, two assists, four drawn exclusions and four steals. Goalie
Alex Hegeman made nine saves in the game.
Eight of UC San Diego's 14 goals came on special teams with five the result of power plays and three on penalty shots.
Thomas Kisling, Thomas Marr, and Oleg Shatskikh all had two goals apiece for UC Davis. Six others had single goals.
WHAT HEAD COACH MATT USTASZEWSKI HAD TO SAY
"I'm very proud of our team. The resiliency and togetherness we showed was inspiring. We have challenged our scholar-athletes with a rigorous pre-conference schedule, and they have met those challenges head on. It was a tremendous weekend for us to continue to grow and connect, as we look to build into conference and postseason play."
UP NEXT
This coming week features the highly anticipated annual Battle of the Kings game on Wednesday, September 24 at 6 pm. Canyonview Aquatic Center in La Jolla will be rocking as the Tritons take on Loyola Marymount during the first week that all UC San Diego students are back on campus.
Season and single game tickets are available for purchase online by visiting the link
HERE or by calling (858) 534-1430. For more ticket information, e-mail the box office at
triton-tix@ucsd.edu.
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.
