From the moment the UCSD team got there everyone could tell this game was being taken seriously. The USD players had started warming up while the Tritons were still arriving, and it was obvious this game was circled on their calendar. The Tritons were locking in through warmups, with reminders that they had to win this cross-town rivalry.

From kick off, USD pressed very high, trying to force mistakes. The few UCSD mistakes were made up for by the defense. UCSD was effective at breaking this press and passing around their energy with intentions to get them tired. The first half was mostly played in the USD half, but USD was able to counter on 2 significant breakaway attempts. Both of these attempts were saved by Brendan Errico, keeping the game locked 0-0. The Tritons had plenty of attacking momentum but were unable to put one away before the half time whistle blew.

At half time the Tritons recognised that the team they had previously beat 6-1 came to play today. They also plotted how to continue their attacking momentum and actually put a goal away. The goal they were hoping for was eventually achieved by a great build up play leading to a really good shot from a tight angle for Nick Shor. This goal was not a tap in, which is rare for Shor. 

After breaking down the USD defense, their fatigue caught up to them. The rest of the half was continuous chances for UCSD, leading to some well played goals and a few brilliant individual goals. After the first goal, there was a good finish from Patrick Machado, followed by a goal off of a corner kick from Cole Hubbard, and ending with a great finish from Cesar Moles Jover.