Tritons Upset Defending National Champs But Come Up Short in Division Championship Match
The UC San Diego Men’s Club Water Polo Team played some of the best water polo ever in the team’s history this past weekend at the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Pacific Coast Division Championships hosted by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. The team’s exceptional performance, however, was not good enough in the end, as the Tritons came up short in the championship match against the despised USC Trojans.
The weekend started with the third seeded Tritons matching up against sixth seed UC Irvine on Saturday afternoon. The two teams had not seen each other since their first game of the season, where UCSD squeaked out a 9-6 win. This time, the Tritons were determined to keep this game from being close, and came out aggressively from the start. The Anteaters were never able to catch up and the game ended with a 14-3 win for the Tritons.
On Sunday morning, UCSD faced the defending Pacific Coast Division and CWPA National Champions, UCLA. The Bruins were responsible for one of the two losses in the Tritons’ regular season, where UCLA won 8-12. Seeking revenge and a chance to play for the Division Championship themselves, the Tritons refused to go down a second time. The Bruins came out strong and had a 3-1 lead after the first quarter, but UCSD fought back to go into halftime with a 5-5 tie. In the second half, the Tritons were able to keep up their solid defense and deny UCLA of any easy opportunities. Soon the Bruins shockingly found themselves down 8-6 in the fourth quarter. Although UCLA was able to get back within one with a few minutes left in the game, the Tritons pulled off the amazing upset with an 8-7 victory and earned a spot in the championship match against USC.
Despite the disappointment of losing the Pacific Coast Division Championship game and a chance to go to nationals, the Tritons had one of their best seasons yet. They end their year with an 8-3 record and a second place finish in the nation’s most competitive division. The team can look forward to a bright future with many young players that will allow the team to earn another opportunity to get to the national championships.
UC San Diego Field Hockey Named 2011 WCFHC Champions
With UCSD taking 1st place in the southern conference, they were scheduled to play UC Davis, ranked #2 in the North. UC San Diego won their Semi-final match against UC Davis by 3-0!
STATS: Mikey Barminski (1 goals, 1 asst), Selin Esener (1 goal), Amanda Combs (1 goal), Annie Cheng (2 asst)
On Sunday November 20th, both the Championship and Consolation games were played in classic Central California rain. UCSD held their lead for the rest of the very long game and WON the Championship with a strong score of 4-1 over Cal Poly!!!
With the strong coaching from Brian Scheldorn and the hard work and dedication of all the players on UC San Diego, the team was able to achieve their goal of becoming WCFHC Champions. Keep an eye out for more new updates on the team’s performance at the NFHCA National Championship Dec. 2nd-4th where the Tritons hope to bring home another big win.
UC San Diego W. Rugby Puts on Strong Showing at Scrum By The Sea Tourney
The Lady Tritons Rugby Team represented well on their home turf this past weekend, despite several setbacks and some uncooperative weather. After a much delayed kickoff on Saturday afternoon, UCSD came out hard against UC Davis and came away with a 14-7 win in their first game of the tournament.
A game against Cal followed, and it was a battle of the forwards throughout. The set pieces went back and forth, with the Triton forwards wheeling Berkeley several times in the scrums and getting driven back a couple times as well. The Bears were able to capitalize on a couple of defensive breakdowns and walked away with the win, 21-5.
Tries: Ashenbrucker 1
The last game of the day saw a decisive win over the Texas Longhorns, UCSD proving that they are indeed not afraid to mess with Texas. Final score was 20-0, after a relentless game in which the Tritons were tenacious on defense and pounded the ball upfield repeatedly on offense.
Tries: Ashenbrucker 2, Rodriguez 2
On Sunday morning, the Lady Tritons had a rematch with Davis beating the visitors again with a score of 17-5.
Tries: Ashenbrucker 2, Vivian Hansen 1
Conversions: Rodriguez 1
UCSD played Humboldt in their last game of the day, in a tough battle that was hard fought for both teams. Despite playing the majority of the game within the other team's 22, UCSD was unable to finish. Ultimately, missed scoring opportunities cost them the game, with a final score of 7-5 in favor of Humboldt.
Tries: Jojo Calais 1
The Lady Tritons thank all their supporters this weekend and look forward to a round robin versus CSU Northridge and UC Riverside on November 19th.
