Sept. 6, 2014 LA JOLLA, Calif. - Senior center Teddy Nicholson scored a career-high five goals while sophomore Lyle Kipp added his first career hat trick, leading 11th-ranked UC Davis to a 13-8 win over Cal Baptist in the Aggies' Day 1 nightcap at UC San Diego's Triton Invitational collegiate men's water polo tournament. UC Davis previously lost to No. 2-ranked USC by a final of 19-3 in Saturday's morning session.
The Aggies open their new season at 1-1.
Nicholson completed his hat trick early in the second half to craft a 4-2 lead for UC Davis. CBU rallied back to tie the contest at 4-4, then Michael Wright converted a 6-on-5 opportunity to put the Aggies back up by 5-4. Preston Shore responded with an extra-man goal of his own less than a minute later, sending the two teams to the break in a 5-5 tie.
Kipp, Shawn Welch and Nicholson scored goals in a 3-0 run to break UC Davis to a 9-6 edge with 3:19 left in the third, and the Aggies protected a cushion of at least three goals the rest of the way.
In the UC Davis' morning action, senior Chris Richardson, Kipp and Welch each scored goals in the 19-3 loss to the defending NCAA champions. Richardson netted his goal with 99 seconds remaining in the first quarter, Welch converted a five-meter penalty shot with less than three minutes in the second, while Kipp completed a power play for the contest's final goal with 1:19 left in the fourth.
Goalkeeper Spencer Creed tallied nine saves in his UC Davis debut against USC, then added eight against CBU to close out the day.
Senior Kostas Genidounias, and freshmen Matteo Morelli and James Walters each performed hat tricks for USC, which led 10-2 at halftime. The Trojans scored on four of their five 6-on-5 chances, and hit their lone penalty shot. The Aggies were successful on one of eight power-play opportunities.
UC Davis concludes Triton Invite action with games against UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara on Sunday.
UC SAN DIEGO TRITON INVITATIONAL, DAY 1
UC Davis games only.
| No. 11 UC Davis | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | - | 3 |
| No. 2 USC | 7 | 3 | 5 | 4 | - | 19 |
GOALS - UC Davis: Chris Richardson 1, Shawn Welch 1, Lyle Kipp 1. USC: Kostas Genidounias 3, Matteo Morelli 3, James Walters 3, Marc Vonderweidt 2, Luke Felton 2, Lachlan Edwards 2, Grant Stein 1, Max Hurst-Mendoza 1, Mac Carden 1.
GOALIE SAVES - UC Davis: Spencer Creed 9. USC: McQuin Baron 6.
| Cal Baptist | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | - | 8 |
| No. 11 UC Davis | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3 | - | 13 |
GOALS - CBU: David Ring 3, Brent Teraoka 3, Elad Gunya 1, Preston Shore 1. UC Davis: Teddy Nicholson 5, Max Vigeant 1, Lyle Kipp 3, Shawn Welch 1, Michael Wright 1, Austin Beckwith 1, Sean Grab 1.
GOALIE SAVES - CBU: Joseph Moorman 10. UC Davis: Spencer Creed 8.
