PRINCETON, N.J. - The 10th-ranked University of California San Diego men's water polo team scored 10 goals in the opening quarter and never looked back to defeat Iona by a final score of 21-4 as part of the Princeton Invitational, Thursday at Princeton's DeNunzio Pool.

The Tritons earn their first win of the season and move to 1-2. With the loss, the Gaels drops to 3-2.

UC San Diego was led by junior transfer utility Arman Momdzhyan who put away five goals. Senior utility Nassim Hmeidan also recorded a hat trick with three goals. Sophomore utility Andreas Stathatos, redshirt sophomore utility Thomas Higginson and sophomore utility Kevin Asplund contributed two each. Jason Hill was Iona's leading scorer with two goals. UCSD's defense was stellar, limiting the Gaels to one goal in each period.

The Tritons came out of the gates on fire and quickly built a 9-0 advantage, including three goals from Hmeidan. Hill was able to find the back of the cage for the Gaels with eight second remaining in the period, but not before Kevin Asplund answered with a score of his own with one second remaining as UCSD took a 10-1 lead after eight minutes of play.

The Tritons kept on building their lead in the second frame with four goals, two from Momdzhyan and one each from Stathatos and sophomore utility Carson Ivancovich. Iona's Hill scored once more in the period as UCSD led 14-2 at halftime.

The Tritons didn't lose a step in the second half, scoring four straight with two from Momdzhyan and one each from Higginson and freshman utility David Albers. Iona was able to get on the board in the third quarter with a goal from Marc Stauble.

UCSD closed the game out by once again limiting the Gaels to one goal in the period. The Tritons fired home three scores, one each from Higginson, Asplund and Stathatos to come away with a 17-goal win.

UCSD will continue the Princeton Invitational on Friday, Sept. 9 taking on No. 14 Brown at 12:30 p.m. PT.

BOX SCORE
UCSD              10       4          4          3          -           21
IC                    1          1          1          1          -           4

Goals
UCSD: Arman Momdzhyan 5, Nassim Hmeidan 3, Andreas Stathatos 2, Kevin Asplund 2, Thomas Higginson 2, Andy Moore 1, Nick Alexander 1, Skyler Munatones 1, David Albers 1, Carson Ivancovich 1, Cole Martinez 1, Jack Ellinthorpe 1

IC: Jason Hill 2, Quinn Loyd 1, Marc Satuble 1

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