Following a solid 3-1 season-opening showing at its own Triton Invitational this past weekend, eighth-ranked UC San Diego stays busy with three matches this week.

Thursday, the Tritons play host to Concordia University Irvine at 6 p.m. It will be the first Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) contest of the season for both squads.

UC San Diego then hits the road for the first time this season, traveling to Axelrood Pool at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in Claremont on Sept. 11 for the Inland Empire Classic. There, the Tritons will face No. 1 UCLA as well as Whittier (ranked No. 3 in DIII), both of which competed in the Triton Invite but did not go up against UC San Diego.

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THE SCHEDULE
Game 5 - WWPA Match
No. 8 UC San Diego (3-1, 0-0 WWPA) vs. Concordia Irvine (1-0, 0-0 WWPA)
Thursday, Sept. 9 • 6 p.m.
Triton Pool • Canyonview Aquatic Center • La Jolla, Calif.
Watch Live • Live Stats • Tickets • Game Day Program

Game 6
No. 8 UC San Diego (3-1, 0-0 WWPA) vs. No. 1 UCLA (4-0, 0-0 MPSF)
Saturday, Sept. 11 • 11:40 a.m.
Axelrood Pool • Claremont, Calif.
Watch Live • Live Stats

Game 7
No. 8 UC San Diego (3-1, 0-0 WWPA) vs. Whittier (0-4, 0-0 SCIAC)
Saturday, Sept. 11 • 5:20 p.m.
Axelrood Pool • Claremont, Calif.
Watch Live • Live Stats

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ATTENDING OUTDOOR EVENTS AT UC SAN DIEGO
The following policies for outdoor events at UC San Diego went into effect on Sept. 6, 2021.

• Proof of vaccination or proof of negative COVID test for all fans 12 and older will be required for admittance to UC San Diego Athletics events.
• Athletics event management will verify vaccination status or testing status of all fans for entry to the facility.
• Those 12-years old and up can present proof of vaccination by either official CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card or official vaccination record QR Code (Medical records or CA.gov).
• Those without proof of vaccination (including those ages 6-11 who are not eligible for vaccination) can provide a negative COVID-19 test result from within 2 days of the event (PCR or Antigen).
• Those under 6 years of age but over 2 years of age will be required to wear a mask and be accompanied by an adult to ensure masking; those under 2 years of age do not have to wear a mask.
• Masks will be required for all when in the facility. Masks must fully cover one's nose and mouth. Masks will be available at the venue entrance.
• Food will not be allowed in stands/seating area, masks may be temporarily lifted for hydration in the stands/seating areas.

For more information, visit the UC San Diego Return to Learn Site.

Additional links:
UC San Diego Vaccine Mandate Overview | California Digital COVID Vaccine Record

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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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THE MORE YOU KNOW!
Team	Nickname	Location	Conference	Roster	Schedule/Results	Statistics
UC San Diego	Tritons	La Jolla, Calif.	WWPA	Roster	Schedule/Results	Statistics
Concordia Irvine	Eagles	Irvine, Calif.	WWPA	Roster	Schedule/Results	NA
UCLA	Bruins	Los Angeles, Calif.	MPSF	Roster	Schedule/Results	NA
Whittier	Poets	Whittier, Calif.	SCIAC	Roster	Schedule/Results	NA

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ALL-TIME AGAINST THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS
UC San Diego vs. Concordia Irvine: 5-1
UC San Diego vs. UCLA: 1-58
UC San Diego vs. Whittier: 5-0

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THE INLAND EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
The IE Classic, which runs Sept. 11-12, is being played at multiple locations including Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, La Verne, and Redlands. UC San Diego will play two matches on Saturday, Sept. 11, facing off against No. 1 UCLA at 11:40 a.m. and Whittier at 5:20 p.m. Both of the contests will take place at Axelrood Pool at CMS.

For the complete tournament schedule and more, click here.

A total of 19 teams (conference affiliation in parentheses) are slated to compete including:
• Air Force (WWPA)
• Caltech (SCIAC)
• Chapman (SCIAC)
• Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (SCIAC)
• Concordia Irvine (WWPA)
• Fresno Pacific (WWPA)
• La Verne (SCIAC)
• Long Beach State (GCC)
• Occidental (SCIAC)
• Ottawa (Independent)
• Pomona-Pitzer (SCIAC)
• Redlands (SCIAC)
• Riverside Community College (Orange Empire)
• UC Irvine (GCC)
• UC San Diego (WWPA)
• UC Santa Barbara (GCC)
• UCLA (MPSF)
• USC (MPSF)
• Whittier (SCIAC)

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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 this past weekend. 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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4+9=18
Tritons Vedran Latkovic (No. 4) and Calder Hilde-Jones (No. 9) each scored nine goals during the Triton Invite. They combined for 18 of UC San Diego's 63 goals, just under 30 percent of the team's total. Latkovic added five assists and four steals, while Hilde-Jones tacked on 10 drawn exclusions and a pair of steals. Latkovic fired 23 shots, nine more than his closest teammate, which happened to be Hilde-Jones with 14.

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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
9/8/21
previous poll ranking in parentheses
1. UCLA (1)
2. Southern California (2)
T3. Stanford (4)
T3. California (3)
5. UC Santa Barbara (6)
6. Long Beach State (8)
7. University of the Pacific (7)
8. UC San Diego (T9)
9. UC Davis (T9)
10. Pepperdine (5)
11. San Jose State (12)
12. Princeton (T14)
13. UC Irvine (13)
14. California Baptist (T14)
15. Santa Clara (RV)
T16. Bucknell (17)
T16. Fordham (20)
18. Harvard (11)
19. Pomona-Pitzer (RV)
20. Loyola Marymount (16)
-
RV Air Force (RV)
RV Brown (18)
RV Navy (19)
RV St. Francis Brooklyn (RV)
RV George Washington (RV)

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UC SAN DIEGO IN THE 2021 CWPA NATIONAL POLL
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 686-487-4 (.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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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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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.