BERKELEY, Calif. --  The Washington & Jefferson College men's water polo team dropped a match by a 25-4 score to Division I UCLA in the opening game of the 2023 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Championships Friday morning. The three-day, eight-team event is being hosted by the University of California at Berkeley at the Spieker Aquatics Complex. 

UCLA built a 6-0 lead after the first quarter of play. The Bruins tallied the first three goals of the second quarter before W&J was able to get on the board when AJ Alderman (Camp Hill, Pa. / Cumberland Valley) scored with 4:50 to play in the second. Mitchell Rubio (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) found the back of the net at the 4:12 mark and scored again with 51 seconds left in the opening half of play. The Bruins held a 12-3 lead over the Presidents at the break. 

UCLA outscored W&J by a 7-1 margin in the third quarter. Aidan Johnson (Nassau, Bahamas / Windsor) scored the lone goal of the third for the Presidents. The Bruins scored six goals in the fourth to conclude the scoring. 

Rubio played a role in all four goals Friday. The senior finished with a pair of goals and two assists. 

Zishuo Ma (Los Alamitos, Calif. / Los Alamitos) made six saves in net for the Presidents. 

Grant Loth led the Bruins with six goals in the victory.

W&J will face Augustana at the MPSF Championships on Saturday. The match will get underway at 9:30 a.m. pst.