UCLA’s Ryder Dodd Sets Conference Record with 12-Goal Game
UCLA men’s water polo’s Ryder Dodd set a school and conference record with 12 goals in a win Saturday over UC-San Diego.
Dodd was one of three players in UCLA history to score eight goals in a game when he did so against Pepperdine in 2024. He joined Nicolas Saveljic in 2021 and Jack Larsen in 2023. With his 12 markers in a 19-9 victory at the Spieker Aquatics Center on Saturday, Dodd surpassed the MPSF conference record of 10 co-held by Colin McDowell of Augustana College and Aidan Wade of Austin College.
“Obviously, it felt really good. I think coming off of last weekend where physically and mentally I don’t think I played my best at all,” Dodd said in UCLA’s press release. “Coming off a good week of training, I think that led me to have a good game, but also the teammates doing a good job of pulling each other and pulling the other guys to them, making it really easy on me.”
Dodd began the game modestly enough for the third-ranked Bruins, scoring a penalty 24 seconds in. The Bruins led 4-2 after one and 5-3 at half, with Dodd scoring twice against the seventh-ranked Tritons. But he scored twice in two minutes midway through the third quarter, then added goals on consecutive possessions later in the third, providing four straight goals in the game to open a 10-5 UCLA lead.
Dodd added six in the final quarter. He scored on a man-up at 7:17 of the third, then got his eighth at the 6:13 mark, Dodd accounting for six straight UCLA goals. The Bruins kept feeding him – a goal at 4:28, then at 3:31 on a man-up, then at 1:04 and the last one with eight seconds left to make it 12.
“The scary part is there could be a lot of moments like that for him,” UCLA head coach Adam Wright said, noting that it came on a day when the school honored round-number anniversaries for its 1971 and 1996 NCAA championship teams at halftime. “But we ask all the guys to sacrifice for the group, so I’m glad because he has those capabilities.”
Dodd, a junior, has 61 goals this season. He was a member of the U.S.’s bronze-medal winning team at the Paris Olympics in 2024. He’s the two-time reigning Peter J. Cutino Award winner as national player of the year.
At 261 goals, Dodd is second all-time in UCLA history, trailing only Alex Rousseau’s 290 for the program record. Dodd scored 102 goals as a freshman and 98 last year, the second- and third-most prolific seasons in program history.
The Bruins (18-3) had been ranked No. 1 in the nation until losses to Stanford and California elevated the Golden Bears from a tie for third to first in the most recent College Water Polo Association coaches poll. UCLA has one game remaining in the regular season, against No. 4 USC, in an effort to improve on their 2-3 mark in the MPSF.