UCLA Olympic Sports

Men's Water Polo Wins UCLA's 113th NCAA Title

The UCLA Men's Water Polo team beat USC last night to win UCLA's 113th NCAA Championship. The team has now won back-to-back titles.

By Joe Piechowski@JPiechowski Dec 7, 2015, 9:00am PST

The UCLA Men's Water Polo team capped a undefeated 30-0 season last night by defeating USC 10-7 to win UCLA's 113th NCAA Championship and the team's second title in a row.

USC took an early lead in the first period when Grant Stein scored first with 4:13 left in the first quarter. UCLA's Alex Roelse tied it up about a minute later. The Trojans added two quick goals to take a 3-1 advantage.

But, then the Bruins scored four straight points to take a 5-3 lead at halftime and it was a lead that UCLA would never relinquish.

After three quarters, the Bruins led 7-6.

With 7:33 left in the game, sophomore Max Irving scored what would ultimately prove to be the championship-winning goal to give UCLA an 8-6 lead. The Bruins would add two more goals including one by Patrick Fellner with one second left while USC would only be able to score one more goal on Bruin goalie Garrett Danner who recorded 13 saves in the game.

Ryder Roberts who was named the tournament MVP finished the game with 2 goals, 3 assists, and a steal. Roberts, Danny McClintick, Anthony Daboub, and Garrett Danner were all named to the Tournament First Team.

After the game, Roberts said, "Winning a national championship is the goal. I just tried to play the best I could."

Well, last night, that goal was met again for the one-hundred thirteenth time in UCLA history.