The No. 5 UCSD men’s water polo team fought long and hard on the first day of the two-day Northern California Open at UC Berkeley against some of the country’s top-ranked teams. They sent out a strong wake-up call to the 16 teams present at the competition with a crushing 17-9 win over No. 9 St. Francis in their first game of the tournament on Oct. 15.
The Tritons put six goals through the net in the first period to reach a 6-2 lead going into the second. Once the Tritons got hot, St. Francis had a hard time keeping the UCSD offense under control, allowing another four goals in the second quarter to give the Tritons a commanding 10-2 lead by halftime.
It was smooth sailing from intermission on as the Tritons added seven more goals before the final gun to win by a score of 17-9. Seniors Brandon Borso and Jonathan Hopkins took control of the game with four goals each, while teammates junior Ty Lackey and junior Jesse Casellini added three each. Seniors Chris Finegold, Kevin Smoker and Steven Jendrusina each contributed a goal as well.
The Tritons hoped to use their momentum to their advantage in their next match against No. 4 Stanford. The Tritons and the Cardinal went back and forth in the matchup; however, it was the Cardinal that managed to pull through in the end for the close 7-8 overtime win. Hopkins netted three goals in the game and Borso added two. Meanwhile, Jendrusina and Finegold kept the team afloat with one goal apiece.
Movement on the scoreboard was slow and each goal pivotal to the game, as the score jumped around in the first three quarters from 2-2 to 5-3 to 6-4, with UCSD leading heading into the last quarter. Stanford was the only team able to score in the final quarter, fighting its way back to a 6-6 tie at the end of regulation. When overtime arrived, Stanford was able to outscore the Tritons 1-2 to win the game .
On the second day of the event, the Tritons topped No. 6 UC Irvine 11-10 before falling to No. 7 Pepperdine 7-12 in the afternoon game. Details were unavailable at press time.
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