Friday, August 29
Coronado, Calif.
5:00 PM (PT)
UCLA
20
vs
8
Navy
Sophomore Bode Brinkema paced the offense with a four-goal game in the win over the Midshipmen.
Photo by: Ross Turteltaub
No. 1 UCLA Defeats No. 20 Navy, 20-8
August 29, 2025 | Men's Water Polo
CORONADO, Calif. --ย No. 1 UCLA (1-0) successfully opened the 2025 season with a 20-8ย win over No. 20 Navy on Friday nightย at Brian Bent Memorial Aquatics Complex. The Bruins improved to 18-0ย all-time in the series history.
UCLA had a total of 13 players score in the contest, paced by a career-high four goals from sophomore Bode Brinkema. He also added an assist to finish with a career- and game-high five total points.
Redshirt sophomore Nate Tauscher made just his fourth start of his career, playing the first half and holding the Midshipmen to two goals. Redshirt freshman Joey Kent came on in relief, making his first appearance in a Bruin uniform and allowed six goals in the second half. Statistics were not available at the time this story was published.
Redshirt senior Eli Liechtyย scored the first goal of the season on a power play off a feed from redshirt senior Chase Dodd to put the Bruins up 1-0 (6:20). Navy's Quinn Bartlett tied the game at 1-1 on a power play (5:47) before the Bruins reeled off four unanswered goals to build a 5-1 lead at the end of the first period. Redshirt junior Vinnie Merk scored the first goal in the run (5:25) on a power play and then Brinkema followed with a power play strike of his own (4:18) to put the Bruins up 3-1. Junior Ben Liechty (3:43) scored in transition and Senior Gray Carson closed the scoring in the opening stanza with a goal at two meters off a feed from Dodd (0:13).
The Bruins won the second period, 4-1, to take a 9-2 lead into the break. UCLA would score the first four goals of the period to extend the scoring streak to eight straight goals. Eli Liechty scored a goal from two meters (7:03) to open the scoring in the second period, followed by a man-up goal from senior Noah Rowe (6:19) to extend the lead to 7-1. Dodd found the back of the net from the perimeter (2:20) and then Merk scored his second of the game in transition (1:27) to extend the lead to 9-1. Navy's Aiden Berry scored a power play goal (0:08) to end the scoring in the first half.
UCLA won the third period, 6-4, to build a 15-6 lead heading into the final frame. Brinkema scored the first two goals of the third to complete his hat trick. The first came from the front court (7:33) and the second was on a penalty shot that was drawn by Eli Liechty (6:54) that gave the Bruins an 11-2 advantage. Both squads would trade goals for the rest of the period with the Bruins getting a second goal from Dodd (5:45), a power play goal from redshirt senior Trey Doten (1:47), a power play goal from junior Marcell Szécsi (0:58), and an exclusion goal from redshirt sophomore Max Matthews (0:05).
The Bruins won the fourth quarter, 5-2, to provide the 20-8 final. Freshman Jackson Harlan scored the first goal of his collegiate career with a strike from the front court (7:32) that put the Bruins up by 10 at 16-6. After a goal by Navy's Jackson Snapp (7:14), junior Wade Sherlock scored back-to-back goals from the perimeter (6:53 and 4:18) to push the lead to 18-7. Navy's Jack Reif scored from set (1:41) and then UCLA got a power play goal from redshirt junior Ben Larsen (1:21) to make it 19-8. Brinkema would net his fourth goal (0:52) in transition to end the scoring for the contest.
Up Next: The Bruins head to the Triton Invitational for two games tomorrow, starting with No. 14 UC Davis at 10:40 a.m. PT and concluding the weekend at No. 12 UC San Diego at 5:30 p.m. PT.
No. 20 Navy vs. No. 1 UCLA (Coronado, Calif. - Neutral Site - Game 1)
| SCOREBOARD | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | FINAL |
| No. 20 Navy | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 8 |
| No. 1 UCLA | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 20 |
6x5 -ย UCLA - 8/13 - NAVY - 2/8
Penalties -ย UCLA - 1/1ย - NAVY - 1/1
NAVY Goals:ย Kiefer Black 3, Aiden Berry 1, James Mulvey 1, Aiden Day 1, Jack Reif 1, Quinn Bartlett 1
NAVY Saves:ย stats not available at time of publication
UCLA Goals:ย Bode Brinkema 4, Eli Liechty 2, Wade Sherlock 2,ย Chase Dodd 2, Vinnie Merk 2, Marcell Szécsi 1, Ben Larsen 1, Gray Carson 1, Max Matthews 1, Noah Rowe 1, Ben Liechty 1, Jackson Harlan 1, Trey Doten 1
UCLA Saves:ย Nate Tauscher, Joey Kent (stats not available at time of publication)
Players Mentioned
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