DAVIS, Calif. — The Aggie faithful turned out in force to watch the UC Davis men's water polo team take on the No. 2 UCLA Bruins on Sunday afternoon at Schaal Aquatics Center. The Bruins got the best of UC Davis, 16-7, to remain undefeated on the season.
The Aggies drop to 6-3 on the year, while UCLA picks up their ninth win.
The Bruins converted on a five-meter penalty shot to jump out to an early lead after Aggie goalie Aaron Wilson came down hard on UCLA center Marcell Szecsi just seconds into the game. UCLA never looked back, scoring four of the next six goals to finish the first period with a 5-2 lead.
Will Nomura converted a power play opportunity off a pass from Max Stryker early in the second period to bring the Aggies to within two, but that was as close as they would be as UCLA rattled off the next three goals to go into the halftime break up 8-3.
Aaron Voggenthaler, Timothy Kerr, Andrew Hitchcock and Colin Nichols registered second half goals, but hat tricks from Szecsi and Giorgio Alessandria and a four goal performance from Rafael Real Vergara proved too much to overcome.
Stryker, Aleix Aznar Beltran and Tyler Mrkaich each contributed two assists, while Ben Fleming drew two exclusions and a five-meter penalty.
Next up, the Aggies travel down to Southern California to participate in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Invitational. The first game of the tournament is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 22 at 3:00 p.m. against Cal Baptist University.
