Tri-Peat: No. 1 University of California-San Diego Overcomes No. 3 California Maritime Academy, 17-10, to Capture Back-to-Back-to-Back Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship Crowns

No. 1 University of California-San Diego-vs.-No. 3 California Maritime Academy Scoresheet (2024 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship – First Place)

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — 2024 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship Most Valuable Player Graham McClone (Gr., Placerville, Calif.) scored five times to power Southwest Division Champion/No. 1-ranked the University of California-San Diego to the program’s third consecutive National Championship with a 17-10 defeat of Sierra Pacific Division Champion/No. 3 California Maritime Academy.

UC-San Diego has appeared in the last four National Championship games (2024, 2023, 2022, 2021) and joins Lindenwood University (2014, 2015, 2016) as the only programs to win three consecutive titles. For Tritons’ fans, beware of 2025 as the Lions; run coming to an end in 2017 when another squad from “America’s Finest City” – San Diego State University – took home the big plaque by defeating the University of Texas.

The title continues a legacy of success for the Tritons:

In 2023 at the Kearns Oquirrh Park Fitness Center in Kearns, Utah, UCSD rolled past the University of Utah (18-8 W), Dartmouth College (15-10 W), the University of California (15-9 W) and the University of Florida (12-8 W) to repeat as Men’s National Collegiate Club Champion.
In 2022 at the Chehalem Aquatics & Fitness Center in Newberg, Ore., UC-San Diego defeated Dartmouth (15-5 W), California (11-7 W), the University of Michigan (14-6 W) and California Polytechnic State University (7-6 W) to claim the National Championship.
The Tritons topped Oregon State University (20-5 W), the University of Pennsylvania (18-5 W) and Washington University in St. Louis (16-5 W) prior to suffering a 12-11 setback against Michigan State University in the 2021 Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship title game at the Huntsville Aquatic Center in Huntsville, Ala.
In 2019 at the University of Pittsburgh, the Tritons battled the United States Military Academy (19-7 W), California State University Maritime Academy (10-7 W) and Lindenwood (11-9 L) before stopping the University of Utah by a 15-13 score in overtime to claim Third Place.
The team finished in Fifth Place at the 2018 Championship hosted by the University of Arizona as the Tritons faced Oregon State University (14-3 W), Lindenwood (7-3 L), The Ohio State University (11-7 W) and the University of Texas (7-6 W).
Prior to 2018, UC-San Diego made the field as the No. 16 seed for the 2013 event by way of serving as host. In their first appearance at the National Championship tournament, the Tritons fell to the University of California-Los Angeles (10-7 L), stopped the University of Oregon (10-6 W) and Cornell University (16-12 W OT) prior to upending the University of Maryland (11-7 W) in the Ninth Place game.

In the history of the league, five institutions have won back-to-back National Championships as California Polytechnic State University (2001-02), UCLA (2009-10), the University of Southern California (2011-12), Lindenwood (2014-16, 2018-19) and UC-San Diego (2022, 2023, 2024) have claimed consecutive crowns.

Following the championship game, McClone was named Tournament Most Valuable Player, while Coach of the Tournament status went to the California Maritime coaching staff of Aldric Terral and Kerry Deaver.

The Tritons never trailed in the contest as Braden Clark (Jr., San Diego, Calif.) broke the ice 23 seconds into the first quarter (6:27) before Kevin Kraatz (Jr., Oceanside, Calif.) notched an equalizer with a man-up strike at 5:41. Clark responded with back-to-back tallies at 5:24 and 3:08 to inflate the margin to 3-1 before Warren Cooper (Fr., Lafayette, Calif.) spun in an answer with a man-up marker at 2:30 to move Cal Maritime back to within a goal at 3-2. Andrew Cagney (So., Whittier, Calif.) returned UCSD’s lead to a pair at 4-2 with 1:52 on the first quarter clock, but the Keelhaulers flayed the margin back to one via a man-up score by Kevin Kraatz 14 seconds into the second quarter (6:46) to move Cal Maritime to within 4-3.

However, the Tritons pulled out the big forks to stick in a comeback bid by the Keelhaulers as TJ Turner (Jr., Escondido, Calif.) (6:31), Clark (5:15) and McClone (4:37) ripped off a 3-0 run before Matthew Turecek (So., San Diego, Calif.) terminated the scoring spurt to inch Cal Maritime back to within three at 7-4.

Turner tacked on a pair of goals prior to the halftime horn as the junior swished man-up (1:48) and even-strength (five seconds) scores to hand UC-San Diego at 9-4 lead at intermission.

Cagney pushed the Tritons into double-digits in the first minute of the third quarter by torquing in a tally with 6:16 on the clock to make it a 10-4 contest. Kevin Kraatz shaved the Keelhaulers’ deficit back to five at 10-5 with 5:51 on the clock before Filippo Sallustio (Jr., Roma, Italy) (5:05) and McClone (4:44) tossed in counterpoints to expand the margin to 12-5.

Cooper ended the run with a strike for Cal Maritime at 4:23 before Riley Kraatz (Jr., Oceanside, Calif.) lined in a penalty shot at 3:44 and Cooper connected for another goal at 2:55 to close the gap to 12-8.

The trio of Connor Stauffer (Sr., Mill Valley, Calif.), McClone and Gonzalo Rivera (Gr., Madrid, Spain) put the game out of reach as the Tritons’ trio tossing in tallies at 1:28, 55 seconds and 39 seconds, respectively, to make it a 15-8 contest heading into the fourth quarter.

Following a goal by Cooper 34 seconds into the fourth quarter (6:26) to inch Cal Maritime back to within six at 15-9, the Tritons stuck a fork in the victory courtesy manu-up (4:02) and natural (2:20) strikes from McClone to build the lead to 17-9. Riley Kraatz capped off the damage by rifling in a shot with 18 ticks on the clock to establish the 17-10 final score.

For UC-San Diego, McClone (five), Clark (four), Turner (three) and Cagney (two) combined for 14 of their teams 17 goals with Stauffer, Rivera and Sallustio each accounting for solo scores. Goalkeeper Bryce Elsner (Gr., Carlsbad, Calif.) stopped eight shots guarding the cage to pick up the win.

Cooper (four), Kevin Kraatz (three), Riley Kraatz (two) and Turecek combined for Cal Maritime’s 10 goals in support of a nine save effort by goalkeeper Jacob Idris (Jr., Carlsbad, Calif.).

The Keelhaulers’ runner-up finish is historic for both the program and the Sierra Pacific Division.

A two-time Men’s National Collegiate Club Championship qualifier after capturing Eighth Place in 2019 at the University of Pittsburgh as the team stopped Oregon State University (16-12 W) before falling to the University of California-San Diego (10-7 L), Michigan State University (15-11 L) and Pennsylvania State University (12-6 L), Cal Maritime equals the 2012 runner-up University of California squad for the highest finish by a Sierra Pacific Division team since the group was created prior to the 2011 season.

	1st Q	2nd Q	3rd Q	4th Q	–	FINAL
No. 3 California Maritime Academy	2	2	4	2	–	10
No. 1 University of California-San Diego	4	5	6	2	–	17

UCSD Goals:	Graham McClone (5); Braden Clark (4); TJ Turner (3); Andrew Cagney (2); Connor Stauffer; Gonzalo Rivera; Filippo Sallustio
Cal Maritime Goals:	Warren Cooper (4); Kevin Kraatz (3); Riley Kraatz (2); Matthew Turecek
Saves:	UCSD – Bryce Elsner (8) ; Cal Maritime – Jacob Idris (9)
Exclusions:	UCSD – 12 ; Cal Maritime – 5
Advantage Opportunities:	UCSD – 2-for-5 ; Cal Maritime – 4-for-12
Sprints:	UCSD – 2-for-4 (1st, 4th) ; Cal Maritime – 2-for-4 (2nd, 3rd)
Cards/Misconducts:	None
Officials:	Stephanie Villalobos, Kevin Heinrich