THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - After trailing 2-0 in the middle of the first quarter, the 13th-ranked University of California San Diego men's water polo team outscored Cal Lutheran 18-4 the rest of the way to take the win by a final score of 18-6, Thursday at Samuelson Aquatics Center.
The Tritons improve to one game above .500 at 4-3. The Kingsmen remain winless at 0-3.
UCSD had 10 different scorers with junior transfer Arman Momdzhyan leading the way with his third hat trick of the season with four goals. Seniors Nassim Hmeidan and Andy Moore, and freshmen Cooper Milton (San Diego/Cathedral Catholic HS), Noah Carniglia and Skyler Munatones, all pitched in two each. Redshirt sophomore goalie Jack Turner compiled seven saves inside the cage.
“We got a lot of players some very valuable minutes,” commented head coach Denny Harper.
Camron Hauer led CLU with two scores. Kingsmen goalie Nick Loomis recorded 10 saves.
CLU was able to get on the board just 31 seconds in thanks to Mats Albins. The Kingsmen climbed to a 2-0 lead with a Chris Gardhouse score with a little more than three minutes gone by in the first. The Tritons capitalized on back-to-back power-play opportunities on their next two offensive possessions with goals from Momdzhyan and redshirt sophomore Thomas Higginson. With 25 seconds remaining, senior Nick Alexander found the back of the cage on the rare six-on-four, with two Kingsmen ejected, to give UCSD a 3-2 lead.
CLU came out of the gates storming to begin the second quarter, only needing 28 seconds off of the sprint to tie, 3-3. Turner and the Triton defense didn't allow a score the rest of the period and got two goals from Momdzhyan to complete his hat trick and one each from Carniglia and Moore to take a 7-3 advantage into halftime.
“We had a very slow start, but we corrected that pretty quickly and got into a good rhythm,” said Harper.
UCSD continued the offensive onslaught in the third and strung together five straight out of the intermission to lead by nine, 12-3. The Kingsmen responded with three scores to close the quarter, but not before Moore was able to interrupt CLU's run with a goal.
The final period belonged to Turner and the Triton defense as they held CLU scoreless. Milton scored twice and Carniglia and redshirt freshmen Kacper Langiewicz and Ari Wayne each fired one home in the quarter as UCSD won by 12.
The Tritons will have one day off before taking on No. 6 UC Santa Barbara on the road, Saturday, Sept. 17 at 12 p.m.
UCSD 18, CLU 6
UCSD 3 4 6 5 - 18
CLU 2 1 3 0 - 6
Goals
UCSD: Arman Momdzhyan 4, Nassim Hmeidan 2, Cooper Milton 2, Noah Carniglia 2, Skyler Munatones 2, Andy Moore 2, Nick Alexander 1, Thomas Higginson 1, Kacper Langiewicz 1, Ari Wayne 1
CLU: Camron Hauer 2, Zack Card 1, George Lundgren 1, Chris Gardhouse 1, Mats Albins 1
Saves
UCSD: Jack Turner 7
CLU: Nick Loomis 10
#AllForOne
