LA JOLLA, Calif. - Senior Arman Momdzhyan tallied four goals leading the 13th-ranked University of California San Diego men's water polo team to its sixth-straight Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) win. UC San Diego defeated No. 20 Santa Clara by a score of 13-9 Thursday night at Canyonview Aquatic Center.
UC San Diego remains perfect at 6-0 in the WWPA and improves to 9-11 overall. The Broncos fall to 8-12 on the season and 1-2 in the conference.
With his four goals, Momdzhyan completed a team-best 10th hat trick. It was also his second-straight four-goal performance and sixth of the season. He leads the Tritons with 48 goals.
Freshman Connor Turnbow-Lindenstadt, sophomore Cooper Milton and junior Alessandro Valania each tallied two goals while sophomore Skyler Munatones, junior Kevin Asplund and sophomore Noah Carniglia had one apiece.
Junior Sam Thompson played all 32 minutes in goal and grabbed six saves while adding three assists and a steal.
UCSD held a 35-30 advantage in shots and converted on 2-of-7 powerplays.
SCU jumped on the board first, scoring 15 seconds into the contest before the Tritons had back-to-back goals to take the lead. The Broncos' John Raineri made a penalty shot in the final minute to knot the game at two after the first quarter.
UCSD scored six goals in the second frame, including five-straight to take an 8-3 lead into the half. Thompson found Munatones on a breakaway and drilled one past SCU goalkeeper Emil Huebner. Momdzhyan notched back-to-back goals including a backhand that went into the top right of the net. Thompson found Valania for another breakaway goal and Momdzhyan completed his hat trick scoring on a pass from Asplund to round out the half.
The Broncos outscored UCSD 6-5 in the second half however it wasn't enough to overcome its early deficit and the Tritons walked away with the four-goal victory. Momdzhyan notched his fourth goal in the third frame while the Broncos' Ryan Weaver scored three-straight in the fourth quarter.
Weaver had four goals for SCU and Huebner made seven saves in goal.
UC San Diego hosts UC Davis Saturday, November 4th in its final regular-season home contest. The game is set to start at 4 p.m. at Canyonview Aquatic Center. The Tritons will honor three outstanding senior players before the match.
UC San Diego 13, Santa Clara 9
UCSD 2 6 3 2 - 13
Santa Clara 2 1 2 4 - 9
Goals
UCSD: Arman Momdzhyan 4, Connor Turnbow-Lindenstadt 2, Cooper Milton 2, Alessandro Valania 2, Skyler Munatones, Kevin Asplund, Noah Carniglia.
SCU: Ryan Weaver 4, Patrick Kirk 3, Reilley May, John Raineri.
Saves
UCSD: Sam Thompson 6
SCU: Emil Huebner 7
#AllForOne
