The final week of Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) regular season play is upon us.

UC San Diego, jumping up a spot in this week's national poll to 12th, is on the road to play No. 20 Santa Clara followed by No. 9 UC Davis.

The Tritons bring a 4-2 WWPA record with them, which ties them with California Baptist for fourth place. UC Davis is unbeaten in league play at 6-0 and stands alone in first place. Santa Clara has gone 2-4 in WWPA contests so far this season.

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THE SCHEDULE

Game 20 - WWPA match
No. 12 UC San Diego (11-8, 4-2 WWPA) at No. 20 Santa Clara (12-12, 2-4 WWPA)
Thursday, November 4 • 2 p.m.
Sullivan Aquatic Center • Santa Clara, California
Watch Live (Twitter) • Live Stats

Game 21 - WWPA match
No. 12 UC San Diego (11-8, 4-2 WWPA) at No. 9 UC Davis (14-7, 6-0 WWPA)
Saturday, November 6 • 12 p.m.
Schaal Aquatics Center • Davis, California
Watch Live • Live Stats

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GET TO KNOW THE TEAMS
Team	Nickname	Location	Conference	Roster	Schedule/Results	Statistics
UC San Diego	Tritons	La Jolla, California (map)	WWPA	Roster	Schedule/Results	Statistics
Santa Clara	Broncos	Santa Clara, California	WWPA	Roster	Schedule/Results	Statistics
UC Davis	Aggies	Davis, California	WWPA	Roster	Schedule/Results	Statistics

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ALL-TIME AGAINST SANTA CLARA
• Overall Series: UC San Diego leads 46-2
• First Meeting: 1980, UC San Diego wins 5-0
• Last Meeting: 11/23/19, UC San Diego wins 7-6 at WWPA Tournament in Riverside
• Current Streak: UC San Diego has won the last 14 meetings 
• Last Santa Clara Win: 9/22/13, 11-10 in sudden victory OT in Berkeley

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ALL-TIME AGAINST UC DAVIS
• Overall Series: UC San Diego leads 57-27
• First Meeting: 1982, UC San Diego wins 9-5
• Last Meeting: 9/24/21, UC Davis wins 13-12 in sudden victory OT in Berkeley
• Current Streak: UC Davis has won the last 3 meetings
• Last UC San Diego Win: 9/29/19, 13-12 in sudden victory OT in Los Angeles

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SENIOR SALUTE
Five outstanding senior scholar-athletes were recognized for their contributions to the Triton community on Senior Day, which took place on October 29 prior to the match against Fresno Pacific.
• Calder Hilde-Jones
• Karlo Krmek
• Aram Nordanyan
• Jack Ranj
• Alex Zamanian

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UC SAN DIEGO AND COVID-19
UC San Diego's nationally renowned Return to Learn program was created to return to in-person teaching, learning, conducting pioneering research and serving our communities in the safest way possible. The program has three adaptive pillars that are central to our strategy to resume on-campus activity: risk mitigation, viral detection, and intervention. For the latest information on UC San Diego and COVID-19, please visit the University's Return to Learn site.

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NET POSITIVE
Triton goalkeeper Alexander Nemeth has been in net in 17 of 19 games (nine complete games) this season and currently holds a 10-7 record. He's made 10 or more stops eight times, including a season-high 14 against UC Davis on September 25 at the Nor Cal MPSF Invitational.

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LATKOVIC EARNS WWPA PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOD
On Wednesday, September 29, Vedran Latkovic was tabbed the WWPA Player of the Week. He helped the ninth-ranked Tritons to a 3-2 record by scoring 12 goals to go along with three assists. Latkovic provided the highlight of the season thus far against No. 17 Loyola Marymount at home in front of over 900 fans. Tied 13-13, Karlo Krmek found him on the left side, about six meters from the net. With only 15 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Latkovic launched an off-speed lob just before the shot clock expired. The ball spun past several outstretched arms and a lunging LMU goalkeeper, finding a home in the bottom right corner of the net for the game-winner. It was his fifth goal and sixth point of the night. Against No. 11 San Jose State at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Invitational in Berkeley, Latkovic found the back of the net six times, the most goals by a Triton in a single game this season. Also at the tourney, he scored once against No. 13 UC Irvine and recorded two assists vs. No. 8 UC Davis.

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GOAL POST
Through 19 games this season, UC San Diego has totaled 280 goals. That averages out to 14.7 goals per contest.

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FIREPOWER
The Tritons have scored 20 or more goals three times this year, including a season-high 25 at Biola on September 16. In 2019, they hit the 20 mark just once. In 2018, they did it three times. 

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SCORING MACHINES
Calder Hilde-Jones and Vedran Latkovic have combined for 83 goals in 2021. Hilde-Jones has netted at least one goal in all 19 matches, while Latkovic has scored in 16 of 19. Hilde-Jones has 14 multi-goal games and has scored at least twice in nine of his last 10 outings. His single-match season-high is four goals, which he's done twice. Latkovic has 12 multiple-goal games, including six against San Jose State on September 26.

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POINT BREAK
On September 16 at Biola, Miles Wilson lit up the box score by finishing with nine points. The redshirt freshman found the back of the net twice and helped seven others score by assisting on their goals. The nine points are a single game-high for any Triton this year.

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START ME UP
UC San Diego got off to a strong start this season, compiling a 3-1 record while hosting the Triton Invitational. In fact, the Tritons won their first three games of the tourney after not engaging in any countable competition since Nov. 24 of 2019. They scored 63 goals over the four matches, an average of almost 16 goals per game. In just the first three contests, UC San Diego found the net 56 times, tallying 17 against Occidental, another 17 in an upset of Pepperdine, and 22 vs. Westcliff.

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GAME DAY HAS A NEW LOOK
Triton fans now have a whole new way to access game day information as game programs have gone digital! Fans can visit https://bit.ly/MWPgameday from their smart phone or scan the QR code at the entrance to Canyonview Aquatic Center for everything they need to know about each home game, including updated rosters, schedules, and stats for each team, as well as watch links.

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COVERING THE TRITONS
Media members wishing to cover a UC San Diego match in-person at Canyonview Aquatic Center this season must notify a member of the Athletics Communication staff no later than 24 hours before gameday. All media members will need to complete a UC San Diego symptom screening form on the day of the match prior to arriving on campus.

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2021 WWPA STANDINGS (through 11/3)
Rank	Team	WWPA Record	Overall Record
1	UC Davis	6-0	12-6
2	Loyola Marymount	5-1	9-11
3	Air Force	5-2	17-6
4	UC San Diego	4-2	11-8
	California Baptist	4-2	16-13
6	Fresno Pacific	2-4	5-13
	Santa Clara	2-4	9-12
8	Concordia	1-5	7-13
9	Biola	0-8	1-20

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2021 CWPA NATIONAL POLL
11/3/21
1. UCLA
T-2. California
T-2. USC
4. Stanford
5. Long Beach State
6. Pacific
7. UC Santa Barbara
8. San Jose State
9. UC Davis
10. Pepperdine
11. Princeton
12. UC San Diego
13. Harvard
14. UC Irvine
T-15. Loyola Marymount
T-15. Fordham
17. Pomona-Pitzer
18. California Baptist
19. Air Force
T-20. Santa Clara
T-20. Brown
-
RV Navy
RV Bucknell
RV St. Francis College Brooklyn

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UC SAN DIEGO IN THE 2021 CWPA NATIONAL POLL
November 3: 12
October 27: 13
October 20: 11
October 13: 11
October 6: 11
September 29: T-9 (Princeton, San Jose State)
September. 22: T-9 (Princeton)
September 15: 9
September 8: 8
Preseason: T-9 (UC Davis)

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2021 WWPA PRESEASON COACHES POLL
T1. UC Davis (60 points, 5 first-place votes)
T1. UC San Diego (60 points, 4 first-place votes)
3. California Baptist (49)
4. Loyola Marymount (44)
5. Air Force (34)
6. Santa Clara (31)
7. Concordia Irvine (23)
8. Fresno Pacific (13)
9 Biola (10)

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STRONG VETERANS RETURNING
UC San Diego has a core group of veterans returning in 2021. Calder Hilde-Jones and Kaden Likins, 2019 All-WWPA honorees, are back for their super senior and redshirt sophomore seasons, respectively. In addition, Karlo Krmek, Jack Ranj, Aram Nordanyan, and Alex Zamanian look to capitalize on their extra years of eligibility.

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NEW FACES
The Tritons welcome eight rookies to the program including Nikita Valajev (Mill Valley/Tamalpais HS), Trevor Moore (La Mesa/Steele Canyon), Rhys Bugelli (Santa Barbara/La Jolla HS), Connor Stauffer (Mill Valley/Tamalpais HS), Matthew Wastila (Coronado/Coronado HS), Connor Macmitchell (San Carlos/Menlo School), Collin Tournat (Manhattan Beach/Mira Costa HS), and Brendon Fezzey (Riverside/John W. North HS).

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MATT USTASZEWSKI AT THE 2020 OLYMPIC GAMES
Associate Head Coach Matt Ustaszewski served as the video coach for the U.S. Olympic Men's Water Polo Team at the most recent 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. Ustaszewski also assisted in scouting reports and worked closely with the goalies, helping the Americans to a sixth-place finish at the tournament. For the full story, click here.

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TREVOR MOORE NAMED TO USA MEN'S JUNIOR NATIONAL TEAM
Redshirt freshman Trevor Moore was selected to the USA Men's Junior National Team roster in late August. He is currently competing with Team USA in Prague, Czech Republic at the FINA Men's Junior World Championship.

Drawn into Group B, the Americans defeated Slovakia (12-7) and Czech Republic (18-2), but lost to Spain (20-10) and Serbia (15-0) to finish third in the group stage. Now, Moore and the U.S. are matching up for playoff contention with other second and third-place teams from the three other groups (A, C, D). For the full story, visit here. To follow along, click here.

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2019 SEASON RECAP
UC San Diego closed out the 2019 season as Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) regular season runners up. The Tritons also finished second at the WWPA Championship Tournament, falling to UC Davis in the final game, 5-14. Six scholar-athletes were named All-WWPA including redshirt senior Calder Hilde-Jones (Second Team) and redshirt sophomore Kaden Likins (All-Freshman Team).

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HEAD COACH DENNY HARPER ENTERS SEASON 42
Denny Harper has sat the helm of the UC San Diego men's water polo program for the last 41 years. Throughout his Triton coaching career, Harper has amassed an overall record of 694-494-4 (.584). The water polo legend has earned 19 WWPA Coach of the Year accolades and 16 ACWPC Coach of the Year honors while guiding the Tritons to 19 WWPA Tournament Championships. For Harper's full bio, click here.

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UC SAN DIEGO ATHLETICS LAUNCHES WEEKLY PODCAST
As part of UC San Diego's transition to Division I, the Athletics Department launched a weekly podcast, Tritoncast. Produced by UC San Diego Athletics Communications, Tritoncast features in-depth interviews with UC San Diego personalities including scholar-athletes, alums, coaches, and administrators. Triton fans will get an inside look at the UC San Diego Athletics Department as the program transitions to NCAA Division I and the Big West Conference. New episodes of Tritoncast are available each week on the most popular podcasting apps, including Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Audible, iHeartRadio, Pandora, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, and Vurbl. In addition, each episode can be heard and downloaded on UCSDTritons.com. For individual show information and listen links, follow Tritoncast on Twitter @Tritoncast.

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GET SOCIAL WITH UC SAN DIEGO MEN'S WATER POLO
Keep up with the Tritons all season long on social media through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. The team's handle for Twitter and Instagram is @ucsdmwp. The handle for Facebook is @ucsdtritonsmwp.

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FOR THE YOUNGER CROWD
Got some young Triton fans in your family? If they are eighth grade or under, check out the Junior Triton Club. Membership includes a free t-shirt, admission to over 100 UC San Diego home athletic events, and much more!

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GEAR
For the latest Triton apparel and accessories, click here.

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UP NEXT
The Western Water Polo Association Tournament takes place November 19-21 at UC Davis.

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About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program has begun a new era as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 84 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have garnered prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions. For more information on the Tritons, visit UCSDtritons.com or follow UC San Diego Athletics on social media @UCSDtritons.