10/05/24- Men’s Water Polo SDSU Tournament
This was a great tournament for both the A and B team. On day one, the B team had two blow-out games. There is not much to be said. UCSD B played collectively as a group and dominated both NAU and GCU with their superior swim shape. Day two had a more challenging lineup for UCSD B, but they did not let that affect them. The UCI game was very close throughout the whole game. UCI would gain the lead and then UCSD B take back the lead. Eventually, it became 6-6 and in the last 45 seconds and UCSD B was able to put away a game winner and stop UCI on defense. UCSD B then played SDSU A, who is one of the more challenging teams in our league, to a 4 point game. The B Team was missing some starters but they still brought their all. It was clear that they were exhausted from their previous one point game and SDSU A was able to capitalize on that and win the game.
The A team was dominant throughout the whole tournament. Day 1, UCSD A played ASU A first and pulled away from ASU from the start. At the end of the first, UCSD A was up by 6. From then, UCSD A continued to pull away and won decisively. This was a big game since ASU A is likely to be ranked 2 in our league yet UCSD A beat them 8, showing a promising future for this season. The second game was very relaxed. It was clear that we were more experienced but we still played our starting line at the beginning of the game out of respect. Eventually, a field player and goalie switched positions and the field player let in the one goal of the game. Day 2 went about the same as day 1, there was no real worry during the games. GCU was another fun chill game while University of Arizona was more challenging. They clearly wanted to win and were very aggressive throughout the whole game. However, UCSD A stayed composed and won pretty handedly.