UCSD traveled up to sunny Beverly Hills to take on their formidable rival UCLA. UCLA previously knocked the Tritons out of the Aztec Cup in October, so the Tritons came pumped to settle the score. Following a convincing 3-1 victory against Cal Poly Pomona, the Tritons made a couple of changes to their starting 11.

The game began with UCLA sharing more of the ball. The field was extra-large on this day and space was abundant for both teams to play with the ball. UCLA opted for early drilled through balls targeting the space behind the Triton’s back line. UCSD’s defense held their lines well and though a few close scares came, UCSD would end up striking first. The ball made its way into the middle of the park where Jorge Rodriguez played the ball with his back to goal close to the top of the penalty area. Quick ingenuity on Rodriguez’s part with a clever flick put Vismay Manoj through with a chance to go at the goal. Manoj still had some work to do, however. He shifted the ball just far enough to his right foot to clear the defender’s leg and then placed the ball into the bottom left-hand corner, giving the Tritons a 1-0 lead. The Tritons remained resolute in their defensive shape and went into the break with the game in their hands. 

The second half started shaky for UCSD as they gave away an early freekick at the corner of the penalty area. A good cross to the back post saw the UCLA defender tower over the crowd to equalize the game. The game jolted into life and opened up for both sides. A good opportunity saw Nick Shor battling against the defender in a 50-50 at the halfway line. Shor broke past the first tackle and quickly another defender slid in to rectify the other defenders mistake taking Shor out but the ball fell kindly for Owen Reiss who ran the last ten yards and put the ball into the back of the net. The short moment of elation was immediately shattered by the reality that the referee had called back the foul. He claimed Reiss was offside but that the foul on Shor would stand. This moment proved pivotal as it held the game level when UCSD should’ve been up 2-1. 

Nevertheless, the game continued but this time UCLA would strike next with a brutal strike from the top of the box which put them up 2-1. The Tritons needed something special and who else but Vismay Manoj to deliver again for UCSD. A few tight touches in the penalty area and a clever near post finish by Manoj tied the game at 2. 2-2 seemed like a fitting scoreline, and yet the Tritons were determined to push for the win in the dying moments of the match. 

As the game waned and a draw seemed inevitable, the Tritons’ fortunes changed with one well-executed attack two minutes from fulltime. Lucas Venetoulias made a stunning cross field switch to find Antonio Lopez directly on his left foot. Lopez cleverly used the UCLA defender’s momentum against him and played a first-time volley pass over the defender, straight into the path of the on-running Kalani Takamura. Time stood still as the ball settled itself into Takamura’s path. With only the goalkeeper to beat, Takamura knew there was no room for error, as he pummeled the ball past the UCLA goalkeeper. Whatever energy the players had left was spent sprinting to the corner flag to celebrate with Takamura as the Tritons edged away with a hard-fought 3-2 victory over the Bruins.