WWPA Championship - Friday Recap
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- The higher-seeded team advanced from each of Friday's quarterfinal contests at the Western Water Polo Association Championship, hosted by Santa Clara at the Sullivan Aquatic Center. Second-seeded UC San Diego opened with a 17-10 win over No. 7 seed Fresno Pacific, No. 3 Loyola Marymount prevailed in a dramatic 9-8 thriller against No. 6 Air Force, and No. 4 Cal Baptist posted a 10-8 victory over the fifth-seeded hosts to close out the session.
UC San Diego and LMU will now square off in Saturday's 1 p.m. semifinal. Top-seeded UC Davis, which awaited the lowest-seeded advancing team, will take on CBU at 11:15 a.m. on Saturday. Air Force and FPU will meet in the consolation semi at 9:30 a.m. in Saturday's session. The host Broncos will take Saturday off and move to Sunday's fifth-place game.
UC SAN DIEGO 17, FRESNO PACIFIC 10
Junior Arman Momdzhyan and freshman Skyler Munatones each scored four goals to lead the 14th-ranked Tritons offensively, while senior David Maes paced the Sunbirds with a game-high six goals. The two teams battled closely in the first quarter before UCSD exploded for five goals in the span of three minutes in crafting a 6-1 lead by the early second.
The Tritons led 9-3 at halftime and 15-6 through the third quarter during a contest in which they never trailed. Thomas Higginson, Cooper Milton and Nassim Hmeidan added two goals each for the three-time defending WWPA champs. Kyle Eoff contributed four assists and a pair of steals for FPU.
LOYOLA MARYMOUNT 9, AIR FORCE 8
Junior utility Riley Smith scored two goals, including the game-winner with five seconds left in regulation, while sophomore attacker Daniel Arellano recorded two goals and two assists to lead 16th-ranked LMU to its 9-8 victory over Air Force. Junior utilities Jack Empey and Riley Thomas each netted two scores for the Falcons in defeat.
The eight-time WWPA champion Lions held their foes scoreless in the first quarter and forged leads of 6-3 at halftime and 7-4 through three frames. However, Thomas, Luke Andres and Empey scored in succession to equalize at 7-7 with more than four minutes left in the fourth quarter. LMU's Jon Beck hit the go-ahead after the next restart but Empey converted a five-meter penalty shot to tie the contest again with 2:42 left. The Lions held back two more Falcon possessions before Arellano assisted Smith for the winner in the final seconds.
CAL BAPTIST 10, SANTA CLARA 8
The conference's leading scorer, senior driver Brent Teraoka, posted a hat trick to lead eight Cal Baptist scorers in Friday's 10-8 finale over Santa Clara. Freshman utility Mac Carey hit two goals while Demarco Orella and Ryan Werner each had a goal and two assists for the Broncos.
The two teams battled closely for much of the first half, with the 15th-ranked Lancers trailing for only a minute after Dane Estrella made it 2-1 for SCU at the 3:21 mark. Sophomores Tanner Shore and Ryan Sargis scored consecutive goals to boost CBU to a 6-4 lead later in the first half. The Lancers led 8-5 at halftime, and 9-7 entering the fourth. Junior Graham McClone scored a goal early in the final stanza to pull the Broncos to within a 9-8 deficit. CBU goalie Joseph Moorman posted four of his 12 total saves down the stretch to help propel his team to the WWPA semifinal round for the third straight year.
The tournament headquarters, complete with links to video and stats, are located here.