With the start of December comes the month of giving.

And the Bruins may have gotten the first item on their wishlist.

Reigning national champions and No. 2 seed UCLA (25-2, 5-1 MPSF) bested Princeton (23-10, 9-1 NWPC) 15-11 in the first round of the NCAA tournament Friday at Avery Aquatic Center in Stanford, California. The Bruins will move on to the NCAA semifinal match slated for Saturday, for an opportunity to reach their third consecutive national championship match.

UCLA’s 15 scores were the fewest against a nonconference opponent since scoring 13 against UC Irvine in September. The output was also eight fewer than the Bruins scored against the Tigers in the regular season Oct. 11. The four-point final deficit was also the smallest nonconference margin of victory all season.

“We created great opportunities,” said coach Adam Wright. “Whether it was a goal or not, it was just when we were forcing things and rushing things that it became a little bit difficult.”

The Bruins totaled 28 shot attempts, on which they converted over half.

Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Nate Tauscher was good for four saves – his fewest since September – but was supported with just enough team pressure to eke out a victory.

The defense’s aggressive approach limited transition opportunities and forced missed passes. 

And the pressure only increased through the final frame, following a four-score Princeton third quarter – its most of the match.

But with a tenacious defense comes whistles from the referee.

The Tigers were able to draw 21 exclusions from a physical Bruin presence. Nonetheless, the UCLA wall limited Princeton to just a single conversion on 21 total power plays, illustrating the Bruins’ ability to succeed despite their exclusion tally.

“They (Princeton) move well,” Wright said. “There were some that I think we could’ve done a better job on. There were some other ones where I thought our guys put themselves in a pretty good position. But that’s the game – we have to play a lot of five-on-six. Hopefully, we can be a little bit better with our positional defense tomorrow.”

Restricting opponents’ six-on-five opportunities has been integral to UCLA’s 2025 campaign. And the Bruins have struggled to convert themselves, going only 1-for-12 on their own mismatches.

“If they’re (the referees are) calling that many ejections, we just have to play smarter and make small adjustments going forward and raise the energy,” Tauscher said.

But the UCLA offense elevated when it mattered most.

Attacker Frederico Jucá Carsalade went perfect from the field to secure a game-high four goals. The redshirt junior was particularly effective in transition, exemplified by his third goal of the match off an outlet pass from Tauscher early in the fourth quarter, just seconds into the possession.

“We trained very hard to be in this position,” Carsalade said. “Shoutout to Princeton, they’re a great team. Shoutout to my teammates as well, because I couldn’t do anything without them.”

That pace characterized much of the UCLA offense throughout the evening, keeping the Princeton defense on its heels to create mismatches and open shot attempts. 

The Bruins came out of the gates firing in the first stanza, finding nylon five times – their most of the game – including a goal from redshirt senior attacker Chase Dodd off a cross-pool pass.

Both Dodd and senior utility Gray Carson ended the match with a pair of scores each, all of which came in the opening quarter. 

Carson took strong advantage of the Bruins’ mismatches, scoring both times from the low center post. Sophomore attacker Ryder Dodd also tied Carsalade with four goals on six attempts.

UCLA’s defense made just enough timely plays to prevent a Princeton comeback that was close to materializing on several occasions, including a Tigers shot attempt with 3:15 remaining in the second quarter that nearly rolled in before Tauscher swam back to recover possession.

However, after Carsalade found the back of the net for the fourth time Friday night, immediately off a drawn exclusion that left him wide open from the left side with two minutes remaining in the game, any Princeton momentum was quelled.

“I had a good game today – happy for my performance, happy for my team’s performance – but we have to clean up a lot of things to come up strong tomorrow,” Carsalade said.

UCLA will move on to the second round to face the winner of the No. 3 seed Stanford and UC Davis matchup Saturday.