<p>UC-San Diego claims third-place match, 12-8</p>
<p>LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- UC-San Diego's Ty Lackey scored five goals and UC San Diego held off every Navy charge to claim the third-place match at the NCAA Water Polo Championships, 12-8. The Mids end one of their most successful seasons in school history with a 24-7 record, and their 12th NCAA Tournament appearance. </p>
<p>"It beats losing by 17," said Navy head coach Mike Schofield, in reference to Navy's loss to top-ranked USC in the national semifinals. "I'm really proud of my team. I thought they played hard from start to finish, but UC San Diego certainly played a little better than we did. We want to play fast. We want to get into a counter-attack game. We want to do a lot of pressing and boil the game down to a lot of one-on-nobody, two-on-one, three-on-two, as much as we possibly can. I think we did have a lot of chances. We didn't finish enough. And give credit to UC San Diego for that. We had a good game plan, our guys did some really good things, but not enough to win." </p>
<p>UC-San Diego jumped out to a 3-1 advantage, but Navy's Bram Arnold scored with just eight seconds left in the first quarter to narrow the Tritons' lead to 3-2. However, UC-San Diego scored three of the next four goals to take 6-3 advantage with just over five minutes left before halftime. </p>
<p>But Navy again responded, narrowing the margin to 7-5 at halftime on goals by Aaron Recko and Tyler Hill. </p>
<p>The Tritons put the game out of reach, scoring the first three goals of the third quarter for a 10-5 cushion. The lead was 10-6 after three quarters, when Navy narrowed the gap to 10-8 early in the fourth quarter on goals by Andrew Plumb and Mike Mulvey, but Lackey scored his fourth and fifth goals of the game for the final margin. </p>
<p>"Everyone played hard, without looking back, without wondering if they could've given more," said Navy senior captain Todd Carlson. "[The team] played with tenacity, with an ability to try their utmost. If I can't win, then I'd rather have that memory. Those are memories that you'll cherish forever." </p>
<p>Bram Arnold, Aaron Recko and Tyler Hill scored twice for Navy, while Plumb and Mulvey scored once. George Naughton made one save, before Steve Craney came in to make five saves. </p>
<p>Navy loses Todd Carlson, Andrew Plumb and Connor Herron off this year's team and should be a contender again next year.</p>
<p>"Those three seniors have done a phenomenal job leading us this year. We're definitely going to have some big shoes to fill with our junior class stepping up and being leaders," said junior Aaron Recko, who ended his season with 70 goals, the ninth most in school history. "We're going to have to come together with a new team chemistry. It's not something we can't do, but it's not going to be easy. I think we have a lot to build on. Getting this far is an accomplishment in itself. The fact that we're only losing three players, as much of an asset as they were this year, we're going to be strong next year. I think the team definitely plans on coming back to the tournament again, and definitely having some different outcomes next year." </p>
<p>The Mids won 20 games for the 21st time in 25 years. </p>
<p>California won the national title with a 7-6 victory over USC.</p>