Air Force Academy

Sept. 5, 2010

LA JOLLA, Calif. -

Matched up against a pair of top-10 teams, the 19th-ranked Air Force water polo team lost both games on day two of the Triton Invitational, hosted by UC San Diego. The Falcons fell to sixth-ranked conference rival Loyola Marymount by a 10-3 margin, before dropping a 10-5 decision to No. 10 Pacific.

With Sunday's losses, the Falcons fall to 1-3 on the season and 1-2 in the Western Water Polo Association.

In its game versus LMU, the first period was low-scoring, with senior captain Bobby Geiger (Buellton, Calif.) tying the game at 1-1 with under two minutes to play. However, the Lions outscored the Falcons 4-0 in the second quarter and were never challenged in their 10-3 victory.

Posting the other Air Force goals against Loyola Marymount were Josh Stedman (Fr., Brea, Calif.) and Matt Versage (Sr., Merced, Calif.).

The Falcons also started strong against Pacific, as Versage tallied the first goal of the contest. However, the Tigers scored the next three goals before Air Force sophomore Cruz Smithson (Capistrano Beach, Calif.) closed out the opening period with his first score of the day.

Pacific shut out the Falcons in the second period to extend its advantage to 6-2, but Versage added the first two scores of the third quarter to bring Air Force back within two goals. Unfortunately, the Falcons were unable to complete their comeback, as the Tigers tallied four straight goals to take a 10-4 advantage with just over two and a half minutes remaining in the contest. The last score of the game came from Air Force senior Kurt Wallin (Temecula, Calif.), who found the back of the net with 16 seconds left to play to account for the final 10-5 margin.

No. 6 Loyola Marymount 10, No. 19 Air Force 3

LMU                       1      4      1      4      10

Air Force               1      0      1      1      3

LMU Scoring: Asajavicius 3, Horton 2, Forai 2, Aki, Samuels, Flacks

AF Scoring: Geiger, Stedman, Versage

No. 10 Pacific 10, No. 19 Air Force 5

Pacific                   3      3      1      3      10

Air Force               2      0      2      1      5

UOP Scoring: Erdelyi 3, Morrison 3, Tomasevic, Lungu, Koning, Daley

AF Scoring: Versage 3, Smithson, Wallin