Following a busy five-match week, the No. 9 UC San Diego men's water polo team plays just once this week, traveling to No. 20 Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) match takes place on Friday, Oct. 1, at 6 p.m. Pacific.

It will be the first meeting between the Tritons and Falcons since Nov. 22, 2019. UC San Diego took a 14-10 win in the opening round of the WWPA Championship in Riverside, California.

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THE SCHEDULE
Game 15
No. 9 UC San Diego (9-5, 2-0 WWPA) at No. 20 Air Force (11-2, 1-0 WWPA)
Friday, October 1 • 6 p.m.
Cadet Natatorium • Colorado Springs, Colorado
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	WWPA	Roster	Schedule/Results	Statistics
Air Force	Falcons	Colorado Springs, Colorado	WWPA	Roster	Schedule/Results	Statistics

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ALL-TIME AGAINST THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT
Overall Series: UC San Diego leads 72-16
Current Streak: UC San Diego has won the last nine meetings
Last Air Force Win: October 11, 2015 (10-5 at SoCal Tournament in Los Angeles)

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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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LATKOVIC EARNS WWPA PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOD
Wednesday, 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 14 games this season, UC San Diego has totaled 213 goals. That averages out to just over 15 goals per contest.

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FIREPOWER
Through 14 games in 2021, the Tritons have scored over 20 goals three times, including a season-high 25 at Biola on Sept. 16. In 2019, they hit the 20 mark just once. In 2018, they did it three times, one of those occasions coming against Air Force. 

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SCORING MACHINES
Calder Hilde-Jones and Vedran Latkovic are tied for the team lead in goals with 31 apiece. Hilde-Jones has netted at least one goal in all 14 matches, while Latkovic has scored in 12 of 14. Hilde-Jones has 10 multi-goal games to his name and Latkovic has eight.

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POINT BREAK
On Sept. 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.

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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.  

Here are the results linked to the box scores.

• No. 9 UC San Diego 17, Occidental 4
• No. 9 UC San Diego 17, No. 5 Pepperdine 12
• No. 9 UC San Diego 22, Westcliff 6
• No. 8 Long Beach State 11, No. 9 UC San Diego 7

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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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BEHIND THE SCENES AT MEDIA DAY


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2021 CWPA NATIONAL POLL
9/29/21
previous poll ranking in parentheses
1. USC (2)
2. California (T3)
3. UCLA (1)
4. Stanford (T3)
5. UC Santa Barbara (5)
6. Pacific (8)
7. Long Beach State (6)
8. UC Davis (7)
T9. Princeton (T9)
T9. San Jose State (11)
T9. UC San Diego (T9)
12. Pepperdine (12)
13. UC Irvine (13)
14. Santa Clara (14)
15. Harvard (15)
16. Fordham (16)
17. Pomona-Pitzer (18)
18. California Baptist (19)
19. Loyola Marymount (17)
20. Air Force (RV)

-
RV Brown (RV)
RV Bucknell (RV)
RV George Washington (RV)
RV Navy (20)
RV Wagner (RV)
RV St. Francis Brooklyn (RV)

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UC SAN DIEGO IN THE 2021 CWPA NATIONAL POLL
Sept. 29: T9 (Princeton, San Jose State)
Sept. 22: T9 (Princeton)
Sept. 15: 9
Sept. 8: 8
Preseason: T9 (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 692-491-4 (.585). 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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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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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.