LA JOLLA, Calif. – No. 11 UC Irvine men's water polo (14-11) couldn't catch up to Vedran Latkovic and No. 13 UC San Diego dropping their final road match of the season, 14-8 Thursday night at Canyonview Aquatic Center
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>The 'Eaters led the way in shots, 32-29
>14 Anteaters had shot attempts
>Jacob Pyle earned the start in goal, making 11 saves and picking up an assist
>Ethan Shipman topped the squad with five shots, two goals, and four points on the evening
>Other Anteater goal scorers were Jackson Matos, Dylan Patist, Zlatan Nikocevic, Jack Stevens, Stewart Campbell, and Solan Kedzie
>Nikocevic also had two assists; solo assists went to Matos and Luka Krstic
>The Anteaters collected seven steals with Tyler Padua and Zlatan Nikocevic each swiping two
>The 'Eaters were beaten on all four sprints on the night
>Triton Vedran Latkovic scored eight goals on the night including three in the second period
 
FIRST PERIOD
>The Tritons opened the scoring with goals at 6:45, 4:15, and 2:52 to lead 3-0
>Anteaters fought back with goals 37 seconds apart with Jackson Matos (2:35) and Ethan Shipman (1:58) on the powerplay closing the gap to 3-2, UCSD
>Vedran Latkovic scored his second of the period with 1:25 to eventially finish the period up 4-2 for the Tritons

SECOND PERIOD
>Jacob Pyle knocked down the first two shots of the period, but could not keep out a five-meter attempt at 5:39 to put UCSD up, 5-2
>Jack Stevens (3:53) closed the score back to 5-3 with an assist from Matos
>UCSD quickly netted a pair, both from Latkovic to complete his hat trick for the period at 2:17 and 1:53 to make it 7-3, UCSD
>Stewart Campbell (1:32) buried the third goal in a minute set up by Nikocevic for a 7-4 game
>Dylan Patist finished the scoring for the period with 28 seconds left to enter the half trailing, 7-5
>Pyle finished with his most productive period on the night saving five shots
 
THIRD PERIOD
>Scoring in the second half started with the Tritons scoring at 6:15. UCI quickly countered on the next possession as Ethan Shipman (5:51) made it an 8-6 game
>Again the teams scored on consecutive possessions with UCSD going up 9-6 at 4:08. UCI brought it back to 9-7 on Nikocevic's goal
>The Tritons began to pull away scoring the final three goals of the period started by Latkovic at 3:04 and 1:57. Manuel Augusto, who assisted the second goal, scored his own with 28 seconds left to end the period up, 12-7
 
FOURTH PERIOD
>Latkovic's eighth and final goal came 44 seconds into the fourth period to make it a 13-7 UCSD lead
>The scoring halted for the next eight possessions before UCSD went up 14-7 with 3:30 left in the match
>Solan Kedzie scored the final goal of the night with 33 seconds left as Jacob Pyle set him up to make it 14-8
 
UP NEXT
UCI concludes its regular season Saturday Nov. 12 back at Anteater Aquatics Complex. They'll play a doubleheader with No. 6 Long Beach State kicking things off at 12:00 p.m. in a Black & Blue Rivalry Series matchup. The day ends at 4:00 p.m. against Whittier with a ceremony celebrating the team's seniors before the first sprint.