Three Shutouts Have UCSD Men's Soccer Team in Hunt

The UC San Diego men’s soccer team has surged into contention for California Collegiate Athletic Association postseason play by posting three straight shutout victories.

After sitting at 3-4 overall and 2-3 in CCAA play on Sept. 23, the Tritons beat Cal State San Bernardino and Cal State Monterey Bay both by 1-0 scores, then blanked Cal State East Bay 3-0 on Sunday at Triton Soccer Field.

On Sunday, UCSD (6-4, 5-3) wasted little time getting on the board as Andisheh Bagheri earned what appeared to be a harmless free kick near midfield 35 seconds into the match.

Cory Wolfrom curled a cross to the front post off the dead ball for Sam Ball, who cracked a low left-footed shot under the goalkeeper's glove for the first goal as a Triton. Kian Malek made it made it 2-0 in the 30th minute on a rebound off the crossbar.

Evan Walker scored the final Triton goal by finishing a one-on-one with the CSUEB goalie off a through ball from Alec Arsht. Walker's goal was also the first of his UCSD career.

Arsht also picked up the assist on Alex Portela’s game-winning goal in the 80^th minute of the 1-0 win over Cal State Monterey Bay on Friday.

UCSD net-minder Jesse Brennan did well to keep the match scoreless at the 72nd minute mark, diving low and to his left to catch a shot. Brennan is 3-1 since taking over the starting role against Cal State Dominguez Hills on Sept. 23.

The Tritons, with 15 points, are tied for third place with Cal State L.A., one point behind Cal State Dominguez Hills (7-2-1, 5-2-1) and Cal Poly Pomona (6-3-1, 5-2-1).

The Tritons will have their final road trip of the season this weekend, facing Chico State and Cal State Stanislaus on Friday and Sunday, respectively. UCSD will return for a six-match home stand to end the regular season, starting Oct. 14 against Cal State L.A.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

The second-ranked UC San Diego women's soccer team remained unbeaten as it scored 10 goals over the weekend in beating Cal State Monterey Bay 5-0 on Friday and Cal State East Bay 5-1 Sunday.

The Tritons are 8-0-2 overall and 7-0-1 in California Collegiate Athletic Association play, where they lead the South division with 22 points, eight points ahead of second-place Cal State L.A.

Senior Courtney Capobianco scored her first two goals of the season in Friday’s victory that also featured goals by Sarah McTigue, Shelby Wong and freshman Izzy Pozuramo.

Junior Jessica Wi had a goal and two assists and Hayley Johnson two assists in the 5-1 victory over Cal State East Bay on Sunday.

Johnson has 10 assists this season and 24 for her career. She has tallied an assist in five straight matches and has recorded multiple assists in three of those contests.

McTigue added her sixth goal of the year and Britnee Chesney and Danielle Dixon both picked up their first goals, with Gabi Hernandez closing out the scoring.

The Tritons will have their final road trip of the season next weekend against Chico State and Cal State Stanislaus on Friday and Sunday, respectively. UCSD will return for a six-match home stand to end the regular season, starting Oct. 14 against Cal State L.A.

MEN’S WATER POLO

The No. 12 UC San Diego men's water polo team posted upset victories over No. 11 Loyola Marymount and No. 9 UC Davis Sunday to take ninth place for the second straight year at the Socal Tournament hosted by Long Beach State.

UCSD downed LMU for the first time this season in the morning affair, beating the Lions 9-5. It marked the third time in five weeks that the teams had met and the loss marked LMU's (8-5, 5-1 WWPA) first conference blemish this year.

The Tritons then turned their attention to UCD in the ninth-place game Sunday evening. The Aggies came into the game on top of the WWPA standings with a perfect 10-0 record, ahead of LMU and UCSD.

The teams traded the lead three times in the opening quarter, as David Higginson, John Butler, Josh Stiling and Luke Syka scored to help the Tritons escape the first with a 4-3 edge. Hank Dickey gave UCD a 6-5 lead with 55 seconds remaining in the second, but Matthew Michalko tacked one on to even the score at 6-6 at the half.

Michalko gave the Tritons the lead for good with 5:32 remaining in the third and Stiling added another to make it 8-6. The teams traded goals until the end of the quarter, when William Brown scored to give UCSD a two-goal advantage.

Graham Saber scored to make it 11-8 less than a minute into the final stanza, his third goal of the match. The Aggies would get a pair back to bring it within one with a minute remaining, but UCSD forced a turnover and then drew an ejection in the final 50 seconds to run out the clock.

On Saturday, the Tritons rallied for four goals in the final quarter to beat Air Force 12-11 after losing to No. 8 UC Santa Barbara 15-9 earlier in the day.

In the win over Air Force, Saber scored with 1:36 left to play on a Triton 6-on-5 to bring UCSD within one. John Butler tied the match at 11-11 with 55 seconds left, and Saber registered his fourth and final goal with just five seconds remaining to give the Tritons the win.

The victory marked the third time this year that UCSD has taken down Air Force.

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

The 12th-ranked UC San Diego volleyball team was upset 3-1 by Sonoma State Saturday in CCAA play at the Wolves' Den.
 
Scores were 25-13, 25-23, 19-25 and 25-18 in favor of the Seawovles. The Tritons, who have lost two of their last three matches, dropped to 10-2 overall and 6-2 in the league. SSU upped its season totals to 11-3 overall and 8-1 in the CCAA.
 
UCSD hit just .162 on the night, its second-lowest attack percentage of the season. The Tritons had 44 kills and 21 errors in 142 swings. The Seawolves countered at .275 with 59 kills and 17 errors in 153 attacks as three players hit better than .300. Sonoma held a 10-dig advantage over UC San Diego at 75 to 65, while the Tritons held a slight 9.5 to 9 edge in blocks.
 
UCSD opened up the match with a -.031 hitting percentage, its lowest of the night.
 
Outside hitter Katie Condon picked up her fourth double-double of the season with 11 kills and 12 digs. Outside Hilliary Williamson totaled 15 kills, nine digs and four blocks. Outside/setter Roxanne Brunsting and libero Janessa Werhane each had a match-high 18 digs and freshman middle Lauren Demos finished with seven kills and five blocks for the Tritons.
 
Condon, Williamson and Brunsting helped key the Tritons on Friday in their 3-0 sweep at Humboldt State. Scores were 25-19, 25-20 and 20-18.
 
Condon had 12 kills and Williamson 10 kills, two aces, nine digs and a block assist. Brunsting recorded her eight double-double of the season with 16 assists and a match-best 15 digs.

For the sixth time this season, UCSD held its opponent under a .100 attack percentage as Humboldt hit just .065 (28-21-108) for the match. The Tritons swung at .250 with 44 kills and 15 errors in 116 attempts.
 
The Tritons host No. 3 Cal State San Bernardino Wednesday at 7 p.m. The Coyotes are 13-0 overall and 8-0 in the CCAA and swept Sonoma State on Friday.

MEN’S TENNIS

The UCSD team of Austin West and Devon Sousa won the doubles championship at the USTA/Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Regional Championships Saturday on the campus of Cal State L.A.
 
West and Sousa defeated Grand Canyon's Ahmed Saleem and Bastien Tonus by a score of 8-2 to win the ITA West Region title. With the victory, the duo earned a trip to the ITA Small College National Championships, the only national championship event for singles and doubles at the NCAA Division II level.
 
West, a junior, and Sousa, a sophomore, began their day with a solid 8-4 win in the semifinals over Stephan Murray and Patrice Giraldi of Grand Canyon.
 
Sophomore Max Jiganti dropped a 6-2, 6-4 decision to BYU-Hawaii's Yevhen Zakharov in the singles championship match.

On Friday Jiganti outlasted Grand Canyon’s Ahmed Saleem 6-2, 4-6, 10-8 in the quarterfinals  then took down Grand Canyon's Stephane Murray in straight sets, 6-2 and 7-6, to punch his ticket to the championship match.
 
On Saturday Sousa warmed up for his doubles matches by winning two singles contests to top the consolation field. In the semifinals, he beat Sonoma State's Garret Gooch, 8-4. He took on Drexler Dy, also of Sonoma State, in the final and rolled to another 8-4 win. 
 
The ITA National Small College Championships take place Oct. 13-16 at the Copeland-Cox Tennis Center in Mobile, AL. The singles and doubles champions from each collegiate level (NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA, junior/community) will then compete to become the overall "Super Bowl" champions.
 
The "Super Bowl" champions will earn wild cards into the USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships with the opportunity to win the culminating event held at the USTA-Billie Jean King National Tennis Center Nov. 3-6 in Flushing, NY.
 
WOMEN’S TENNIS

The UC San Diego women's tennis team completed play at the USTA/Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Regional Championships Friday at Cal State L.A. Two Triton doubles teams were eliminated in the quarterfinals and two singles players were ousted from the round of 16.
 
The duo of Haley Perrotte and Jacquelyn Davis was defeated 8-3 by Katie Eng and Kelsey Chrisco of Cal State Stanislaus. Also in doubles play, Tara Vanooteghem and Melissa Breisacher were blanked 8-0 by BYU-Hawaii's Annie Hwang and Sherry Liu.
 
Perrotte and Samantha Yeung represented UCSD in the singles round of 16. Perrotte ended up falling to Grand Canyon's Katherina Mittag, while Yeung was defeated by Justine Majan, also from Grand Canyon.
 
Sophomore Zoe Sophos  earned a spot in the singles consolation finals by cruising through the first three rounds. She blanked Aubrie Brenda from Cal State Stanislaus 8-0 and followed that with an 8-5 win over Lindsey West of Stanislaus in the quarterfinals. She took down her third straight player from Stanislaus in the semis, rolling to an 8-2 win against Jessica Stokes. Sophos met Sonoma State's Sheena Johnson in the finals and was defeated 8-2.    

CROSS COUNTRY

UC San Diego will host its annual Triton Classic Saturday. The men’s 10K race begins at 9 a.m. and the women’s 6K raced at 9:50. Some 15 teams are expected to participate.

On the heels of a progressive performance two weekends ago in Spokane, the Triton men come into this week ranked eighth in the region while the women have climbed to fifth and made their debut in the USTFCCAA national rankings at No. 23.

The top four of each gender at the Nov. 5 NCAA West Regional will advance to the NCAA Championships. Both of those races will be held in Spokane.

—Compiled from press releases issued by the UCSD sports information office