NEWBERG, Ore. — No. 2-ranked/Southwest Division Champion the University of California-San Diego scored four goals in the first overtime period for all the Tritons required to outlast and overcome No. 4/Sierra Pacific Division Champion the University of California, 11-7, in overtime in an quarterfinal matchup at the 2022 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship hosted by Oregon State University at the Chehalem Aquatic and Fitness Center.
UC-San Diego – which is guaranteed to finish no lower than Fourth Place at the 2022 event and previously placed Second (2021), Third (2019), Fifth (2018) and Ninth (2013) in four prior trips to the Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship – will return to the water at 5:10 p.m. Pacific later today to take on No. 3/Big Ten Division Champion the University of Michigan in the semifinals.
California – which previously placed Second (2012), Third (2013, 2014, 2015), Fourth (2018, 2021), Fifth (2017), Sixth (2018) at the National Collegiate Club Championship – will battle No. 10/Mid-Atlantic Division Champion Pennsylvania State University at 4:00 p.m. with a berth in the Fifth Place game at stake.
The game was close until UC-San Diego’s surge in overtime to claim victory as neither team lead by more than two goals until the Tritons’ stuck a fork in the Golden Bears with back-to-back-to-back-to-back blasts in the first OT period to gain a sizable advantage on the scoreboard.
California opened the scoring with 5:29 left in the first quarter as Kai Mohl (So., Palos Verdes, Calif.) slipped in a shot to stake the Golden Bears to an early lead. Maxwell Black (Jr., Seattle, Wash.) converted a man-up chance at 3:30 to square the squads at one-all before registering his second man-up tally at 1:54 to put the Tritons ahead 2-1. The lead last until the 17 seconds mark when Christopher Wazzan (Fr., Westwood, Calif.) broke free to fire in an equalizer and deadlock the teams at seven-all heading into the second quarter.
California continued its momentum into the second seven-minute frame as Wazzan (5:54) and Ryan Elkhouri (So., Huntington Beach, Calif.) (5:11) swished back-to-back even-strength bids to push the Golden Bears ahead 4-2. It marked the largest lead of the game for California.
UC-San Diego pulled even prior to halftime as the Tritons bet on Black and came out a winner as the junior drilled in a man-up goal at 3:12 and flushed a natural marker at 1:09 to deadlock the teams at four-all through 14 minutes of action.
California struck first in the third quarter as Elkhouri lined in a five-meter penalty shot at 3:38, but Andrew Burda (Sr., San Diego, Calif.) and Graham McClone (Gr., Placerville, Calif.) turned the tide back in favor of the Tritons with goals at 3:03 and 2:30, respectively, to allow UC-San Diego to acquire a 6-5 margin heading into the fourth quarter.
Neither team mustered much offense in the fourth quarter with the exception of a successful penalty shot by Elkhouri at 4:44 to tie the score at six-all and force overtime.
In the first three-minute extra-period, UC-San Diego dominated the action as McClone (2:41), Gonzalo Rivera (Gr., Madrid, Spain) (1:55) and Andrew Schade (Sr., San Diego, Calif.) (1:21, 31 seconds) strung together a 4-0 run to provide the Tritons all they need to advance into the semifinals.
Trailing 10-6 to start the second three-time OT period, California attempted to climb back into the contest as Elkhouri lined in a man-up opportunity with 2:01 on the clock to move the Golden Bears within three at 10-7. However, McClone returned the margin to four at 11-7 by completing a hat-trick at the 1:15 mark.
For UC-San Diego, Black (four), McClone (three) and Schade (two) netted multi-goal games with Burda and Rivera chipping in single tallies. Parker George (So., San Diego, Calif.) and Bryce Elsner (Jr, Carlsbad, Calif.) split time in cage and combined for 14 saves over the duration of the contest.
Elkhouri led Cal with four goals with Wazzan (two) and Mohl (one) accounting for the remainder of the Golden Bears’ offense. Goalkeeper Alex Mueller (Jr., Manhattan Beach, Calif.) stopped seven shots in taking the loss.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | OT1 | OT2 |
– | FINAL | ||
| No. 2 University of California-San Diego |
2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | – | 11 | |
| No. 4 University of California | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | – | 7 | |
| California Goals: | Ryan Elkhouri (4); Christopher Wazzan (2); Kai Mohl | ||||||||
| UC-San Diego Goals: | Maxwell Black (4); Graham McClone (3); Andrew Schade (2); Andrew Burda; Gonzalo Rivera | ||||||||
| Saves: | California – Alex Mueller (7) ; UC-San Diego – Parker George (5, 14 minutes), Bryce Elsner (9, 20 minutes) | ||||||||
| Exclusions: | California – 9 ; UC-San Diego – 9 | ||||||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | California – 3-for-9 ; UC-San Diego – 3-for-9 | ||||||||
| Sprints: | California – 1-for-6 (1st) ; UC-San Diego – 5-for-6 (2nd, 3rd, 4th, OT1, OT2) | ||||||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | None | ||||||||
| Officials: | Mike McMahon, Jahn Trutna | ||||||||
The University of California-San Diego’s Andrew Schade (#2) fires a shot at University of California goalie Alex Mueller (#1)
University of California’s Christopher Wazzan (#4) looks to shoot as the University of California-San Diego’s Graham McClone (#3) observes
University of California’s Ryan Elkhouri (#5)
