TUCSON, Arizona — Josh Wang (Jr., San Diego, Calif.) of No. 4-ranked/Southwest Division Champion the University of California-San Diego opened the 2018 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship at the University of Arizona in style by pumping in four goals to claim Player of the Game honors and lead the Tritons to a 14-3 defeat of No. 18/Northwest Division Champion Oregon State University.
The win advances the Tritons into a 9:00 a.m. quarterfinal clash on Saturday, November 10, against the victor of an opening round game pitting No. 10/Missouri Valley Division Champion Lindenwood University and No. 12/Mid-Atlantic Division Champion Villanova University. For Oregon State, the loss drops the Beavers into a 9:50 p.m. consolation game later tonight against the fallen from the Lindenwood-Villanova contest.
For UC-San Diego, which is guaranteed to finish no lower than Eighth Place in the final 16-team tournament to surpass its only other National Collegiate Club appearance – Ninth in 2013 as the host institution, the Tritons pulled ahead 4-0 within the first 2:30 of the opening seven-minute quarter and never looked back.
Wang drew first blood in the game by pounding a feed into the twine 39 seconds into the game (6:21) to put UC-San Diego in front to stay. Jack Harper (Jr., San Diego, Calif.) added a man-up strike at 5:39 before Andrew Burda (Fr., Palos Verdes, Calif.) and Wang followed with natural markers at 5:06 and 4:28, respectively, to make it 4-0.
Santiago Gomez (Fr., Beaverton, Ore.) chipped Oregon State’s deficit down to three at 2:51 by lining in a shot to move the Beavers within 4-1. However, Jackson Ziegler (Sr., Cupertino, Calif.) and Andy Schade (Fr., San Diego, Calif.) tossed in even-strength (57 seconds) and man-up (no time remaining) tallies to hand UC-San Diego a 6-1 lead after the opening frame.
Malachi Sanders (Fr., San Diego, Calif.) and Bryan Murillo (Jr., San Diego, Calif.) padded the spread to 8-1 in the dawning moments of the second quarter as the duo deposited man-up shots at 5:51 and 4:31, respectively. Wang completed the first half’s scoring with exactly two minutes left on the second quarter clock by ripping in his third marker of the game to complete a hat-trick and make it 9-1 going into the break.
In the third quarter, a five-meter penalty shot by Burda (6:33) followed by an even-strength score by Ziegler (2:49) allowed the Tritons to acquire a 10-goal lead at 11-1. Oregon State shaved its deficit down to eight by the end of the quarter, however, as Carl Bohme (Fr., Bend, Ore.) lined in a chance at 1:32 and Connor Wu (So., San Jose, Calif.) whipped in a ball with 49 ticks to go in setting the scoreboard at 11-3 entering the fourth quarter of action.
UC-San Diego delivered the finishing blows in the waning moments of the fourth quarter as Zane Girouard (So., San Bruno, Calif.), Wang and Murillo notched goals at the 3:55, 2;19 and 1:15 marks, respectively.
For UC-San Diego, Ziegler, Burda and Murillo both connected on pairs of shots to join Wagner in posting multi-goal games. Schade, Sanders, Girouard and Harper each accounted for solo scores.
Across the tank, Gomez, Wu and Bohme all found the back of the cage once for Oregon State.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Oregon State University | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 3 |
| University of California-San Diego | 6 | 3 | 2 | 3 | – | 14 |
| UCSD Goals: | Josh Wang (4); Andrew Burda (2); Jackson Ziegler (2); Bryan Murillo (2); Malachi Sanders; Zane Girouard; Jack Harper; Andy Schade | |||||
| Oregon State Goals: | Santiago Gomez; Connor Wu; Carl Bohme | |||||
| Saves: | UCSD – Sachin Okuma (5) ; Oregon State – Jacob Roeder (8) | |||||
| Exclusions: | UCSD – 3 ; Oregon State – 8 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | UCSD – 5-for-8 ; Oregon State – 0-for-3 | |||||
| Sprints: | UCSD – 2-for-4 (1st, 2nd) ; Oregon State – 2-for-4 (3rd, 4th) | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | None | |||||
| Officials: | Scott Krasinksi, Mike McMahon | |||||
University of California-San Diego’s Bryan Murillo (#6) rises to shoot
Oregon State University’s Terran Walker (#6)
Oregon State University’s Skylar Reed (#10) looks to pass as the University of California-San Diego’s Tyler Shaver (#20) defends
University of California-San Diego’s Andrew Burda (#2) scores a five-meter penalty shot against Oregon State University goalie Jacob Roeder (#1) in the second quarter
