LOS ANGELES - No. 6 UC San Diego continues to prove its resilience late in games. After falling behind 5-2 in the first quarter, the Tritons (10-8, 4-0) pulled ahead in the fourth quarter to take a 9-7 victory against No. 16 Loyola Marymount (5-14, 1-1).
"Well obviously when UCSD and LMU get together anything is possible," head coach Denny Harper said. "Certainly our very slow start made for an interesting game. We held them to only two goals after the first quarter and did what we had to to get the win."
Behind senior goalie Cameron Ravanbach, the Tritons defense stepped up after the first quarter as they held the Lion to just two goals while shutting them out in the last frame. Shutting out the Lions is nothing new for Ravanbach. When the two squads faced earlier this month, he held LMU scoreless for the entire second half as UCSD went on to win 7-2.
Despite a goal from Chase Cockerill and Josh Stiling early in the contest, the Tritons still found themselves down 5-2 at the end of the first quarter. But they were ready to fight back.
In the second quarter, UCSD scored three unanswered goals to tie the game up at 5-5. Stiling netted the first one, and Lukas Syka cut the Tritons' deficit to one with his first.
Cockerill then came through big for UCSD. The junior drew a penalty against LMU's Nicholas Zanobini and Joe Dietrich tied the game on the penalty shot. Still the Lions notched another goal before the end of the quarter to give them a 6-5 lead at the half.
LMU opened the third quarter by extending its lead on the first possession. But with 5:30 left in the quarter, Ravanbach made a deep pass to sophomore Andy Moore who scored his first of the day. Then after a Triton timeout, senior Matt Michalko tied it up at 7-7.
With 7:16 left in the game, David Higginson gave UCSD the lead for the first time all day. Stiling secured the win and completed the hat trick later in the fourth quarter by scoring on a penalty shot.
"It wasn't pretty, but I'm very proud of our poise and championship character," Harper said. "This is generally the time of year where gaps have been closed and certainly within our conference there are, and will be close games. I'll take an ugly win everyday of the week."
Stiling led both teams with three goals, and Ravanbach finished the day with 11 saves.
The Tritons are on the road again next week. They will travel to Davis on Oct. 31, where they will take on No. 12 UC Davis. UCSD has 45-14 all-time record against UC Davis.
BOX SCORE
UCSD 2 3 2 2 - 9
LMU 5 1 1 0 - 7
GOALS
UCSD: Josh Stiling 3, Chase Cockerill 1, Joe Dietrich 1, Lukas Syka 1, Matt Michalko 1, David Higginson 1, Andy Moore 1
LMU: Vuk Cvetkovic 2, Nicholas Zanobini 1, Matt Cuozzo 1, Kyle Etrata 1, Jon Beck 1, Emanuel Di Stasio 1
SAVES
UCSD: Cameron Ravanbach 11
LMU: Dominick Beaudine 7
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