LA JOLLA, Calif. - The 11th-ranked UC San Diego men's water polo team (11-13) returns home for a key Western Water Polo Association match-up against No. 14 Santa Clara (15-8) on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. at Canyonview Pool. With a win, the Tritons can improve their chances at a possible No. 2 seed in the WWPA Tournament on November 20-22 in Palo Alto. With Loyola Marymount the expected No. 1 seed, the Tritons are battling for position with Air Force, Santa Clara and UC Davis. Saturday's game will be the last home appearance for UCSD seniors
Ian Bausback,
Steven Donohoe,
Peter Gresham,
Kneif Lohse,
Daniel Ramirez and
Sean Roberts. The six student-athletes will be honored in a brief ceremony before first sprint.
The Tritons and Broncos have not met this season, but share several common opponents. Last week Santa Clara lost to UC Santa Barbara by a 10-7 score. This season, Santa Clara has split two games with UC Davis and is 2-0 against Air Force.
Santa Clara is led by Jack Wall with 51 goals and 36 assists while Nick Poggetti has scored 38 goals. Daley Meistrell has a team-high 22 steals while Liam Farrell has drawn 24 ejections. In goal, Michael Wishart has 154 saves and 141 goals allowed.
The last meeting between the Broncos and Tritons came on Nov. 8, 2008, a UCSD win by a 13-9 score in Santa Clara.
UCSD is led by Steven Donohoe with 54 goals. Donohoe's career total is up to 173 goals which is eighth all-time in school history.
Sophomore goalkeeper David Morton has 255 saves this season which is eighth in school history. The all-time mark is 302 saves set by Duncan Millar in the 1985 season.
The Tritons will be looking to stop a two game losing streak after losses to Long Beach State and Loyola Marymount last week. In addition to Steven Donohoe's team-high 54 scores, Bryce Madsen has scored 31 goals while Roberts has added 27 goals. Ryan Allred has scored 26 times in just 14 games.
After this week, the Tritons will have a pair of exhibition games on Saturday, November 14 when it hosts Sunset and San Francisco Olympic Club. UCSD will then head to the Western Water Polo Association Championships hosted by Stanford.
