LA JOLLA, Calif. - The University of California San Diego men's water polo team opened its season with losses against two perennial powerhouse opponents in No. 5 Stanford and No. 1 UCLA in the Triton Invitational, Saturday at Canyonview Aquatic Center. UC San Diego fell to the Cardinal by a final score of 15-5. The Tritons were defeated 13-6 against the two-time defending national champion Bruins. 

UCSD starts the year 0-2. Stanford moves to 2-0, having routed Claremont-Mudd-Scripps after taking down UCSD. UCLA also moved to 2-0 following another comfortable decision over California Baptist in its second game of the day. The Bruins have won 35 straight dating back to 2014.

Game One - Stanford 15, UC San Diego 5
The Tritons dug a hole in the beginning of the game that they could not get out of and were defeated by Stanford, 15-5.

Senior utility Nassim Hmeidan led the way for the Tritons with two goals. Senior utility Jack Ellinthorpe, freshman utility Skyler Munatones and junior transfer utility Arman Momdzhyan added one each. Redshirt sophomore goalie Jack Turner had four saves in the cage.

Stanford's Michell Mendoza and Cody Smith both recorded hat tricks with three scores each. Bennett Williams, Justin Roberto and Blake Parish each added two. Goalie Oliver Lewis compiled 11 saves.

UCSD was shut out in the first quarter and was only able to muster one score in the first half.

The Cardinal rattled off six straight goals to begin the game. Munatones was the first Triton to find the back of the cage with 27 seconds remaining in the second period.

Stanford scored twice before UCSD was able to get one of its own to start the second half, with Momdzhyan getting the goal with 5:42 remaining in the third period. From there the Cardinal would get three unanswered to grab a nine-goal lead.

UCSD came back with three straight scores of its own, two from Hmeidan and one from Ellinthorpe. Stanford scored four straight to close out the game, as the Tritons could not stop the offensive onslaught.

Game Two - UCLA 13, UC San Diego 6
UCSD only trailed UCLA by one goal after the first quarter, but were outscored 11-5 the rest of the way and defeated by a final score of 13-6.

Ellinthorpe and Momdzhyan had two goals each. Hmeidan and freshman utility Noah Carniglia each put away one. Turner had seven saves inside the cage.

UCLA's Max Irving recorded a hat trick with three goals. Ryder Roberts, Chancellor Ramirez and Jake Simpson added two each for the Bruins. UCLA goalie Garrett Danner had six saves. Alek Ruzic came on in relief of Danner and stopped six shots.

Roberts got things going for the Bruins just 19 seconds into the match with a score. Momdzhyan tied the score approximately a minute later as he fired one home. From there, UCLA would get six consecutive scores before another score from Momdzhyan, with an assist from Hmeidan, stopped the bleeding. The Bruins would find the back of the cage two more times before the end of the half to take a seven-score lead.

UCLA began the second half with two straight scores for its biggest lead of the game, 11-2. UCSD answered with two of its own with an Ellinthorpe goal and a five-meter penalty shot from Carniglia.

The Tritons finished strong with consecutive strikes from Ellinthorpe and Hmeidan after UCLA fired home its 12th and 13th goals of the game.

For results from all Triton Invitational contests, click here.

The Tritons will travel east for their next contests at the Princeton Invitational, Sept. 8-10. UCSD will take on Iona on Thursday, Sept. 8 at 5 p.m. PT, Brown on Friday, Sept. 9 at 12:30 p.m. PT and Fordham and Harvard on Saturday, Sept. 10 at 10 a.m. PT and 4:15 p.m. PT, respectively.

GAME ONE
UCSD              0          1          3          1          -           5
STAN               3          3          5          4          -           15

Goals
UCSD: Nassim Hmeidan 2, Jack Ellinthorpe 1, Skyler Munatones 1, Arman Momdzhyan 1

STAN: Mitchell Mendoza 3, Cody Smith 3, Bennett Williams 2, Blake Parrish 2, Justin Roberto 2, Sam Pfeil 1, Spencer Rogers 1, Marco Stanchi 1

Saves
UCSD: Jack Turner 4

STAN: Oliver Lewis 11

GAME TWO
UCSD              1          1          2          2          -           6
UCLA               2          7          3          1          -           13

Goals
UCSD: Jack Ellinthorpe 2, Arman Momdzhyan 2, Nassim Hmeidan 1, Noah Carniglia 1

UCLA: Max Irving 3, Ryder Roberts 2, Chancellor Ramirez 2, Jake Simpson 2,  Austin Rone 1, Jack Grover 1, Joey Fuentes 1, Matt Farmer 1

Saves
UCSD: Jack Turner 7

UCLA: Garrett Danner 6, Alek Ruzic 5

#AllForOne