LA JOLLA, Calif. — Occidental College faced two tough opponents at the Triton Invitational, suffering losses to Division I's Bucknell and No. 15 UC Santa Barbara.
In the first game against Bucknell, Occidental lost 22-10. The team struggled offensively, limited to just 10 shots while committing 17 exclusions, compared to Bucknell's 26 shots. Bucknell opened the scoring with two quick goals from Tyler Hedblad at 7:36 and Sean Tunnicliff on a penalty shot at 7:09. Occidental responded with goals from
Zane Derrod at 5:55 and
Nicholas Karamian at 5:19, but Bucknell quickly regained momentum, scoring three consecutive goals in the first quarter.
Atticus Wahab-Holles added a goal for Occidental at :53 in the first quarter.Â
In the second quarter, Bucknell struck early with two goals before Karamian found the net again at 5:59. After two more goals from Bucknell,
Danny Miller responded for Occidental at 2:26. The third quarter saw Bucknell score twice before Derrod (5:12),
Miles McDaniel (4:32), and Karamian (1:28) each found the net around additional Bucknell scoring. In the fourth quarter, Derrod scored again at 7:17, but Bucknell went on to score six straight goals before
Joey Gutierrez capped Occidental's scoring at :05.
Zane Derrod and
Nicholas Karamian both finished with three goals on three shots, while Wahab-Holles scored once on his only shot and also won a sprint.
In their second game of the day, Occidental lost to UC Santa Barbara 19-5. The team was held scoreless in the first two quarters, with UC Santa Barbara scoring four times in the first quarter, starting with a goal from Preston Bouch at 6:01, and followed by seven more goals in the second quarter. The third quarter began with five consecutive goals from UC Santa Barbara before
Max Sauers finally got Occidental on the board at 4:11.
Lucas Washburn added another goal for Occidental at 2:07, but UC Santa Barbara closed the quarter with goals at :40 and :09.
Occidental made a strong push in the fourth quarter, scoring three consecutive goals, with Karamian netting goals at 7:39 and 5:45, while
Lars Schubert scored at 6:57. However, UC Santa Barbara responded with a final goal at 1:52. Ultimately, UC Santa Barbara finished with 19 goals on 31 shots, while Occidental scored five times on five shots. Karamian led the scoring with two goals on two shots, while Schubert, Washburn, and Sauers each contributed one goal on one shot.
Overall, the Triton Invitational proved challenging for Occidental, who will look to regroup after these two tough contests.
