SAN JOSE, Calif. — Junior
Logan Anderson and freshman
Aleix Aznar Beltran each finished with hat tricks on the day, helping the No. 9 UC Davis men's water polo team remain unbeaten on the year with a 10-7 victory over No. 11 San Jose State and a 13-4 triumph in an exhibition against Cuesta College on Saturday afternoon in San Jose, Calif.
The Aggies improved to 5-0 overall on the year, scoring eight of their 10 goals in the middle two quarters to pull away from the host Spartans. Along with Anderson's career-high tying three scores, Aznar Beltran and senior
Nir Gross each finished with a pair of goals, while
Levi Murtaugh,
Connor Norton, and
Holden Neach, also found the back of the net for UC Davis.
Meanwhile, the defense limited the Spartans to just 28 percent shooting and an 0-for-10 performance on the powerplay, while sophomore
Aaron Wilson finished with three saves and a pair of steals.
After SJSU took the early lead, Anderson buried a 5-meter goal to tie the game and, again, dented the back of the net in the second quarter to tie the match at two apiece. Murtaugh brought the Aggies back once again, answering a Spartan goal with one of his own, and Norton followed 29 seconds later with his lone goal as part of a 3-0 burst that gave UC Davis the lead for good.
Gross added a score right before the end of the first half that sparked another 3-0 run for the Aggies that built their lead to 8-4 with 2:54 remaining in the third and Anderson scored his third of the day on the powerplay for a 9-5 lead near the end of the period.
San Jose State scored just two and a half minutes into the fourth to make it a three-score match once again, but that would be as close as the Spartans would get as Gross scored at the 4:53 mark to cap the Aggies' scoring en route to the win.
Later in the afternoon, Aznar Beltran's hat trick helped the UC Davis offense shoot 52 percent on the day in a 13-4 exhibition win over Cuesta College.
Aaron Voggenthaler, Norton, Neach, and
Hal Goulter, each added two goals apiece, while
Spencer Towill and
Max Stryker also found the back of the net.
Duncan Creed finished with seven saves in the win as the defense limited the Cougars to just 25 percent shooting and 0-for-14 on the powerplay. A 5-0 run erased an early goal for Cuesta, and the Aggies scored the first two goals of the second half as UC Davis inched away, eventually using a 5-0 fourth-quarter scoring advantage en route to the win.
The Aggies return to the pool this coming weekend, hosting the 2021 Aggie Roundup at the Schaal Aquatics Center on Sept. 17-19. UC Davis opens against Pacific and a rematch with San Jose State on Friday, before taking on a pair of heavyweights in California and USC on Saturday.
Also featuring WWPA rival California Baptist, Redlands, and Santa Clara, the complete tournament schedule is available here: https://ucdavisaggies.com/sports/2021/8/12/2021-AggieRoundup-Central.aspx.
ABOUT UC DAVIS
Centrally located between San Francisco and Lake Tahoe, over 700 student-athletes across 25 teams enjoy an unrivaled undergraduate experience at the fifth-ranked public school in the country.
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