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.

The UCSD Men’s Club Water Polo Team has never played in the Pacific Coast Championship match, but the lack of championship experience amongst the Tritons didn’t diminish their urge for a chance to play for the National Championship at the 2011 CWPA National Championship Tournament in Atlanta, Georgia. They faced a tough task: to hand the USC Trojans their first loss of the season. The Tritons had come close earlier in the season with an overtime loss against the Trojans. But with UCSD playing their second game of the day after a tiring win over UCLA and USC only playing their first game of the day, the Tritons knew they would have to play their best water polo of the year if they were going to steal a win.

Unfortunately, that was unable to happen for the Tritons. With a deep roster consisting of mostly dropouts from the dominant USC intercollegiate men’s team, the Trojan’s physical and relentless play overwhelmed UCSD. The Tritons found themselves down early but were able to keep within two or three goals for majority of the game, yet unlike the UCLA game, they were incapable of climbing ahead. The referees struggled to keep the game under control as the overly aggressive and unsportsmanlike Trojans sparked numerous scuffles between players. In the final minute of the game the Trojans had three players removed from the game in a single possession, allowing the Tritons to earn two easy goals. But it wasn’t enough as the Tritons settled for second place in a 7-9 loss.