LA JOLLA - Freshman Bennett Axline and senior Vedran Latkovic scored three goals each and sophomore Max Abravanel dished out four assists to lead the 13th-ranked UC San Diego men's water polo team to a 12-7 victory over conference opponent Air Force Friday night at Canyonview Aquatic Center.

With the Homecoming Week win, the Tritons improve to 11-10 on the season and remain undefeated in the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) at 6-0. Air Force drops to 29-8 overall and 1-3 in the league.

HOW IT HAPPENED 
UC San Diego held a lead throughout the contest. The Tritons scored the first three goals of the game - two in the first quarter and one early in the second - with Latkovic netting two of those.

The Falcons, who were shutout in the first quarter, outscored the Tritons 4-3 in the second period. Trailing 5-2, Air Force struck for two goals with under two minutes left in the stanza, leaving UC San Diego with a slim, 5-4 advantage at halftime.

Midway through the third quarter, the teams traded goals before UC San Diego exploded for five unanswered goals, a run that started with four minutes remaining in the third and ended at the 4:53 mark of the fourth quarter when Latkovic tallied his third score of the game. All three of Axline's goals came during that spree.

With the Tritons on top by a score of 11-5, Air Force scored two more goals and freshman Luca Rago tacked on another for UC San Diego to account for the final score.

The four assists for Abravanel matched his single-game high, which he has accomplished three times this season.

Miles Wilson finished with three points on two goals and an assist for UC San Diego.

Triton goalie Alexander Nemeth made seven saves in net and added a steal to his stat line.

UC San Diego was four-for-six on the power play while Air Force converted just once in 11 man-up situations.

Grant Snyder and Jacob Yi each scored three times for the Falcons. A.J. Kuypers made eight saves.

HEAR FROM SENIOR VEDRAN LATKOVIC


TRITON TIDBITS
• Max Abravanel's trifecta of four-assist performances have come over his last seven games.
• For the third-straight game, Rhys Bugelli netted a single goal to remain the lone Triton that has scored in all 21 of the team's games.
• UC San Diego moved to 72-17 all-time against Air Force.

UP NEXT
UC San Diego has a huge conference match coming up at Loyola Marymount on Oct. 29. The Lions are also undefeated in the WWPA at 5-0. The two teams have met twice already this season in non-league games with each squad winning once.

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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 began a new era in 2020 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 III and II 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 earned 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.