SAN DIEGO – The University of Redlands Men's Water Polo team jump-started their 2022 campaign at the Triton Invitational Saturday with a split against UC Irvine and Concordia University Irvine.    

Game 1 (UC Irvine; L, 15-4)

The Bulldogs got an early test against one of the top ranked Division I programs in the country.  They found their offense quickly 2-1 following strikes from Jake Rose (San Diego, CA) and Jack Ryan (Ventura, CA).  Ron Gvishi (Kiryat Tivon, Israel) then added an equalizer in the second period and Max Wagener (Piedmont, CA) would tack on the final goal for the Maroon and Grey in the fourth. 

The difference in the game came during the final eight minutes where the Anteaters would use a six-goal effort to go from leading by four to winning by seven.  

Game 2 (Concordia; W, 15-14 2OT)

In one of the most anticipated match-ups on the weekend Redlands took on the Golden Eagles from Concordia University Irvine and it would come down to extra time.  UR held a trio of one-goal advantages (2-1, 6-5, 7-6) in the first half thanks to Gvishi, Spencer Clinton (Cypress, CA), Dan Bajda (Lombard, Ill.), Eamon Greathouse (Bainbridge Island, WA), and Andrew Sorensen (Long Beach, CA).

Then in the fourth the Bulldogs would find themselves trailing by two at 11-9, with 4:50 remaining.  But that lead evaporated quickly as Alec Abrahamian (Glendale, CA) would pull UR within one followed by a Givishi conversion on a power play with 1:47 left that forced the game into extra time.

Spencer Sellwood (Irvine, CA) kept the momentum going in the first OT period moving the score to 12-11 and then with :22 seconds left in that same frame Abrahamian would answer keeping it a one-goal game.   

Wagener made it a two-goal deficit quickly in the second OT session, but the Golden Eagles would rally with back to back strikes with 1:01 left, the last coming with :05 seconds to go that sent the game into sudden death.

In that extra period the Bulldogs regained that momentum back thanks to Sorensen who would pick-up the game-winner :30 seconds in that propelled Redlands to the upset. 

The Bulldogs wrap up the Triton Invitational, Sunday, September 4 with another two match-ups.  The first will be a non-conference showdown against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps beginning at 10:40am and the second will be determined following that outcome.