FRESNO, Calif. - Three Tritons recorded hat tricks as the 10th-ranked UC San Diego men's water polo team defeated Fresno Pacific, 17-5, in a Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) opener for both squads at Sunnyside Aquatics Center Thursday.

With the win, the Tritons improve their overall record to 4-3 and are now 1-0 in the WWPA. FPU falls to 0-3 overall and 0-1 in the conference.

The Sunbirds struck first as Kyle Madel found the back of the cage for the game's opening goal. UCSD would answer back and score five goals in the period, two each from Tiki Toplak and Cole Martinez and one from Jack Ellinthorpe to take a 5-2 lead after one quarter.

The Tritons got scores from Chase Cockerill, Nassim Hmeidan and two from Nick Alexander and limited FPU to one goal in the second period to go into halftime 9-3.

Cockerill took over in the third frame, rifling home three straight UCSD goals to complete a hat trick. Toplak and Martinez also found the back of the cage in the quarter to complete their own hat tricks as well.

The Tritons shutout the Sunbirds in the final period and scored twice to walk away with the 12-point victory.

Nine different players scored for UCSD. Cockerill led all scorers with four goals. Martinez and Toplak added three of their own and Alexander scored twice.

FPU got five goals from four different players, with Madel leading the way with two.

UCSD will have one day off before traveling to Stanford for the Kap7 NorCal Tournament over the weekend. The Tritons will start the tournament by going up against No. 7 Long Beach State on Saturday, Sept. 19 at 12:15 p.m.

BOX SCORE
UCSD               5              4              6              2      -      17
FPU                  2              1              2              0      -      5

Goals
UCSD: Chase Cockerill 4, Cole Martinez 3, Tiki Toplak 3, Nick Alexander 2, Collin Sullivan 1, Daniel Straub 1, Nassim Hmeidan 1, Jack Ellinthorpe 1, Tyler Mancuso 1

FPU: Kyle Madel 2, Zlato Vlasic 1, Connor Cookingham 1, Steven Kaufman 1

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