CARLISLE, Pa. — Southwest Division Champion/No. 1-ranked/2022, 2023, 2024 Men’s National Collegiate Club Champion the University of California-San Diego will have a chance to make history at the Carlisle YMCA Aquatic Center as the Tritons dug out of an early 2-0 hole to overwhelm Southeast Division Champion the University of Alabama, 19-5, in a 2025 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship semifinal.
The defending National Champions will have a chance to become the first institution to capture four consecutive Men’s National Collegiate Club Championships when the squad returns to the water at 12:45 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, November 9, against either Pacific Coast Division Champion/No. 1 California Polytechnic State University or Texas Division Champion/No. 12 Texas A&M University.
Some history will be made in the 2025 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship title game no matter the opponent:
- UC-San Diego has a chance to become the first men’s collegiate club program to claim four consecutive National Championships breaking a tie with the 2014-to-2016 Lindenwood University Lions.
- Further, the Tritons – who lost to Michigan State University by a 12-11 count in the 2021 title game – become the first program to appear in five straight Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship title games (2001-to-2025) breaking a previous tie at four with Cal Poly (2001-to-2004), Michigan State (2005-to-2008) and Lindenwood (2013-to-2016).
- The record for most Men’s Collegiate Club Championships belongs to both Cal Poly (1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007) and Lindenwood (2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019) with five – a mark the Tritons will seek to equal on Sunday afternoon.
Similarly, Alabama- which previously placed 11th (2022), 13th (2021, 2023) and 15th (2017, 2018) at the Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship – will make history of its own as the team is guaranteed to post the program’s inaugural Top 10 and Top Five finishes at the event as the Crimson Tide will take on the fallen from the Cal Poly-Texas A&M semifinal at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, November 9, in the Third Place match.
The Crimson Tide appeared primed to make history and terminate UC-San Diego’s reign as the best men’s collegiate club team over the past several seasons as Hank Jaffe (Jr., Greenwich, Conn.) (6:11) and Landon Kenney (Fr., Pleasanton, Calif.) (3:25, man-up) stuck in pairs of shots to put Alabama ahead 2-0.
The goals awoke something deep inside the Tritons, however, as Andrew Cagney (Jr., San Diego, Calif.) erased the deficit in short order by converting on man-up (1:54) and even-strength (28 seconds) opportunities to balance the scoreboard at two-all after seven minutes of action.
Gabe Burks (Jr., Ann Arbor, Mich.) and Peter Olson (Sr., Coronado, Calif.) continued the scoring run by burying shots into the twine at 5:32 and 4:33 to begin the second quarter. Jason Tockstein (So., San Diego, Calif.) snapped the string via a five-meter penalty shot at 4:13, but Player of the Game TJ Turner (Sr., San Diego, Calif.) torqued in a man-up bid (3:14) to return a two-goal lead to UC-San Diego at 5-3.
The Crimson Tide refused to recede, however, as Landon Kenney (Fr., Pleasanton, Calif.) chipped Alabama’s deficit down to 5-4 with 2:59 remaining in the first half.
For UC-San Diego, the last three minutes of the second quarter was exclusively the Tritons’ domain as Cagney (2:43), Braden Clark (Sr., San Marcos, Calif.) (1:06) and Olson (29 seconds) buried back-to-back-to-back shots to double-up Alabama at 8-4 heading into halftime.
The Tritons continued to fork in scores to continue their scoring rampage in the third quarter as Turner (6:26, penalty shot; 3:46), Clark (6:03), Rhys Bugelli (Gr., La Jolla, Calif.) (5:24) and Connor Stauffer (Gr., Sacramento, Calif.) (1:13) swished five strikes to widen the gap between the teams to 13-4.
Will Rigazzi (Jr, Virginia Beach, Va.) attempted to get the Crimson Tide rolling back via a score with 58 seconds left in the third quarter to inch Alabama back to within eight at 13-5.
The goal instead lit a fire under UC-San Diego as Turner (5:24; 3:53), Matt Spry (Sr., San Diego, Calif.) (4:41), Stauffer (3:21; 1:19) and Luke Childs (Jr., Norco, Calif.) (2:47) closed out the game with a 6-0 surge in the fourth quarter to establish the 19-5 final score.
For Alabama, Kenney scored twice with Rigazzi, Jaffe and Tockstein chipping in solo markers.
Turner (five), Cagney (four), Stauffer (three), Olson (two) and Clark (two) notched multi-goal games with Burks, Spry and Bugelli contributing single tallies.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| University of Alabama | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | – | 5 |
| No. 1 University of California-San Diego | 2 | 6 | 5 | 6 | – | 19 |
| UC-San Diego Goals: | TJ Turner (5); Andrew Cagney (4); Connor Stauffer (3); Peter Olson (2); Braden Clark (2); Gabe Burks; Matt Spry; Rhys Bugelli | |||||
| Alabama Goals: | Landon Kenney (2); Will Rigazzi; Hank Jaffe; Jason Tockstein | |||||
| Exclusions: | UC-San Diego – 4 ; Alabama – 6 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | UC-San Diego – 2-for-6 ; Alabama – 2-for-4 | |||||
| Sprints: | UC-San Diego – 2-for-4 (1st, 2nd) ; Alabama – 2-for-4 (3rd, 4th) | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | None | |||||
| Officials: | Raheem Brown, Geoff Deasey | |||||
The University of California-San Diego’s Matt Spry (#8) closes on the University of Alabama’s Hank Jaffe (#4)
The University of California-San Diego’s Rhys Bugelli (#2) defends against the University of Alabama’s Jason Tockstein (#2)
The University of Alabama’s Will RIgazzi (#11) and the University of California-San Diego’s Connor Stauffer (#10) pursue the ball
