The Cage Strikes Again – The Tritons would open up their Aztec Cup tournament facing off against UC Santa Barbara in the iconic Cage Field. Previous performances in the Cage have shown that the field makes it difficult for teams to play, so the Tritons knew it would be an ugly and luck-based game. 

The game would be underway and very early the conditions of the field made it difficult for the Tritons to play their game. The Tritons were unable to play out of the back and many players struggled to find any grip on the pitch. Suddenly a ball was whipped across the box, which was cleared away by the Tritons. The Gauchos would recover the ball off an unexpected bounce and found themselves in the box, and a UCSB attacker didn’t think twice about striking the ball and found the back of the net. The Tritons would be trailing 0–1, until the Gauchos were able to convert from a corner kick off a deflected touch from UCSD, giving UCSB a 0–2 lead. The half would end 0-2, and the Tritons knew that a comeback was necessary.

The second half was underway and it was noticeable that a change in energy had occurred amongst the Tritons. They quickly made their presence felt as they created multiple chances in the opening minutes of the second half but were unable to convert. The second half would consist of great defensive efforts and being unlucky in front of goal, leading to a 0-2 defeat to the Gauchos. A disappointing start to the tournament, but it was still early and the Tritons had more than enough to make a deep run into this tournament.  The next match would be against GCU, who had won their first group-stage game against Cal Poly Pomona. 

Backs Against the Wall – The Tritons knew they needed a positive result following their disappointing defeat against UC Santa Barbara. Coming up against a notoriously physical and scrappy team in GCU, the Tritons had their work cut out for them. The start of the game against GCU seemed to be a mirror image of the UCSB game. The Tritons were conceding far too much against the Antelopes. The Tritons were being too passive and unconvincing in their decisions with and without the ball. Though they had the majority of the possession, UCSD looked unsure of themselves when trying to attack and looked lacking in confidence in their defensive shape. After successfully defending a corner kick, UCSD conceded a goal via a penalty from the ensuing second ball. The goal gave GCU more momentum, and they came close to doubling their advantage on numerous occasions. Going into halftime with a 1–0 deficit needing a turnaround to keep their tournament hopes alive, the Tritons were staring elimination in the face. 

With their backs against the wall, the Tritons came out flying: they were more hungry, aggressive, and dominant, more willing to do the little details correctly. Incessant pressure by the entire team caused a whole bunch of issues for GCU, who were struggling to keep up with the energy of the Tritons. The momentum they had worked so hard to generate for themselves in the first half was gone, and UCSD could sense it. On a corner kick won through applied high pressure by Lucas Venetoulias, Nick Shor headed home the equalizing goal, and the game was on. The rest of the half was played at an extremely fast pace, with the Tritons going after every ball as if it was the last. Given the high pressure they were applying and the fact they needed another goal, the Tritons took some defensive risks, and thanks to a last-ditch tackle by Antonio Lopez and then a 1vs1 save by goalkeeper Jorge Mendoza, the score remained 1–1 as the game approached its final minutes. 

Just as the game entered stoppage time, the Tritons capitalized on a poor build-out and pressed the GCU backline very high up. An errand pass made its way to Cole Struck, whose deflected shot found the feet of Joey Afsari at the penalty spot. Joey calmly converted the one-time finish into the far corner to give the Tritons the 2–1 lead. It was the last meaningful kick of the game as the referee ended the game seconds after the kickoff. The Tritons showed great determination and resilience to come back given that their tournament hopes were going up in flames at halftime, and the second-half performance was an indication of the level of the team when the Tritons have the right attitude, desire, and mentality. With the 2–1 victory, the Tritons were right back in contention to qualify, and it would be important for them to have the second-half mindset for their entire third match against Cal Poly Pomona.  

The Empire Strikes Back – After their previous victory, the Tritons were now in second place in their group due to a head-to-head tiebreaker with GCU. This meant that a victory against Cal Poly Pomona would see the Tritons through to the knockout round regardless of the result between GCU and UCSB. The game was predicted to serve as a way to rotate the majority of the starting eleven. However, the game was not going to plan as UCSD started incredibly slow, going down 0–1 in the first half due to a penalty. This jeopardized the Tritons’ hopes of making it to the knockout round.  The worry was starting to set in as Pomona seemed to be in control of the game during the first half. The Tritons would go into the break with a lot to think about and hopefully, they would be able to turn things around, or else they would be saying goodbye to their tournament hopes. 

UCSD used the halftime break to discuss tactical changes and shared encouraging messages in the hopes of rallying the troops. Starting the second half with the majority of the starting eleven, the Tritons were quickly able to find the equalizer as Kalani Takamura found the back of the net off a mysterious strike that got past the goalie at his near post. The energy was rumbling, the spectators could feel the hunger that the UCSD team had within them. High pressure and physicality were the key points in leading the comeback. Late in the second half, a nice combination led Vismay Manoj to find himself in front of the net, and he converted the goal, running to the corner flag to celebrate with the rest of the team. Leading 2–1, the Tritons did an amazing job at closing out the game and securing the victory.

The victory meant that the Tritons would play the quarter-final against LMU later in the day, with a shot of making a return to the semi-finals after crashing out early the previous year. 

Cool, Calm, and Collected – With two incredible comebacks in the last two games, the Tritons knew that their luck would soon run out, so the plan was to start strong and carry the momentum throughout the whole game. This plan was effective, as a corner kick in the second minute of the game found David Contreras in the far post who converted and UCSD was leading 0–1. The rest of the first half was shaky in terms of quality of play, but a main factor was fatigue as the starting eleven had played nearly every minute of every game leading up to the quarter-final. The half would end 0–1 in favor of the Tritons.

The second half would be underway and the Tritons made their presence known by being strong in defense and attempting to dictate the speed of the game. LMU was unable to get anywhere near UCSD’s box, the backline was performing at an extremely high level. The game would be played near the half-field as neither team was able to hold onto possession and the midfielders were in constant battle for the ball. Late into the second half, Nick Shor would head home from a corner kick to give UCSD a comfortable 0–2 lead. The game would end with the Tritons moving on to the semi-finals and facing off against UCLA.

Battle of Juggernauts – A matchup against UCLA meant that this semifinal would practically be considered a final as both teams were seen as juggernauts. The game would be underway with UCSD dominating in possession, and UCLA was unable to do anything when they were on the ball. A defensive error led to UCLA’s first scoring opportunity, with crosses raining across the box, the UCLA forward found himself in front of the net and gave UCLA a 0–1 lead. The Tritons remained optimistic, knowing that they were in control of the game and that a comeback could not be written off. The half would end with UCSD trailing 0–1.

The second half would be almost identical to the first, but with UCSD applying more pressure. It seemed as if UCSD was deserving of an equalizer for how hard they were working and how dominant they were in possession. However, the wrong team was rewarded as a late corner kick in the second half found UCLA up 0¬–2. Attempting to remain positive, the Tritons knew they had to leave every last bit of energy on the pitch. A cross was whipped into the box and it found Henry Rose, who converted at the second time of asking and gave UCSD hope. An all-out attack strategy saw the Tritons trying over and over again to level the score, but ultimately it was not enough, UCLA would win the match 1–2. 

While the Tritons were knocked out of the tournament, the team took a lot of positives from the games. They knew they could compete and that in two weeks they would be in a similar position, but this time they firmly believed they could bring home the Regional tournament.