LA JOLLA, Calif. – The Mercyhurst men's water polo team traveled across the country to California, to compete in the Triton Invitational. They played one match today against the UC San Diego Tritons, unfortunately falling with a final score of 21-4.
 
In the first quarter, the Tritons opened up the game with eight consecutive goals, taking an 8-0 advantage into the second quarter.
 
The Tritons built momentum off of their goals in the first quarter, adding two more to make their total rise to 10. Senior Ben Gavran put a stop to that, and scored the Lakers first goal of the season. UC San Diego scored four more in response, taking a 14-1 lead at the half.
 
Heading into the third quarter, the Tritons continued their first half momentum, scoring four more goals to take a 18-1 lead.
 
30 seconds into the fourth quarter, UC San Diego scored a goal to push their lead even further. Within moments of that goal, senior Petar Vujovic retaliated for the Lakers, and scored his first goal of the season. The Lakers continue to flow with another goal coming from Gavran, his second of the game. The Tritons responded with two more goals of their own. Just as the game was about to conclude, Gavran scored his third goal in the game, giving him the first Mercyhurst hat trick of the year. UC San Diego held on to a 21-4 lead, giving them the victory.
 
The Lakers return to the pool for day two of the Triton Invitational tomorrow, Aug. 29. They will play Long Beach State at 11:30 a.m. and La Verne at 5:40 p.m.