UCSD arrived in Cal Poly San Luis Obispo hungry and ready to repeat its success from last year. The tritons faced off against the home team Cal Poly in the semi-finals. Molly Burke was active early as she was able to earn UCSD some early corners and helped us dominate in their attacking half. Alberto Montilla helped open the scoring for UCSD earning us a 1-0 cushion. Minutes later, some fantastic passing from our midfield led to another breakaway as Montilla capitalized on the opportunity and got himself another goal. Mina Balen and Hanna Krohberger were dominant in the midfield as usual and were setting up our forwards in great position. As the half came to a close, Montilla dribbled past the Cal Poly’s defense giving UCSD a 3-0 lead at halftime. Cal Poly came into the second half aiming to climb back into the game as some miscommunication in UCSD’s defense allowed them to score two goals. As the game came to a close, Cal Poly tried their best to come back but UCSD’s defense didn’t allow that to happen as UCSD won 3-2 and advanced to the Championship Game.

One game away from winning the Championship, UCSD was ready to give it everything they had. UCSD was playing UCSB in the final and the tritons knew this victory wouldn’t come easy. However, the tritons started very strong as Sarah Martin put away a goal in the first three minutes of the game. Stephanie Pineda and Elyse Noda prevented any breakthroughs from happening in the back as a couple minutes later, Alberto Montilla was able to dribble past the defenders and put away a goal into the right corner, giving the Tritons a 2-0 lead. Just before halftime, Elyse Noda was at the right place at the right time and was able to put away a great goal, earning UCSD a 3-0 halftime lead. Coming into the second half, the Gauchos gave it all they had to try to break through the Tritons defense but were unable to do so. In the middle of the second half, Montilla was able to dribble past the entire UCSB defense and put away another fantastic goal. The game ended with a 4-0 victory for UCSD as they were able to go back-to-back and were crowned the 2018 Western Collegiate Field Hockey Conference Champions. Arshdeep Singh also earned the Defensive MVP award for his many spectacular performances throughout the season.