LA JOLLA, Calif. – Heading into its first season as a member of the Big West, the UC San Diego men's water program announced its 2023 schedule Wednesday.

The Tritons will host eight single home games as well as two tournaments, including the first-ever Big West Men's Water Polo Championship.

The season kicks off with UC San Diego's prestigious Triton Invitational. The two-day tournament is set for Saturday, Sept. 2 and Sunday, Sept. 3 at Canyonview Aquatic Center in La Jolla. The 2022 event welcomed 15 teams and featured 30 games. UCLA took down USC, 8-6, in the championship contest. This year's match-ups, schedule, and ticket information will be announced soon.

Next up for the Tritons will be the Inland Empire Classic (Sept. 9-10), hosted by Redlands on the campus of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.

UC San Diego plays its first Big West game in program history on Thursday, Sept. 14 (6 p.m.) as Long Beach State visits La Jolla. 

On Friday, Sept. 15 (12 p.m.), Stanford, which compiled a 22-5 record in 2022, comes in for an afternoon game.

The Tritons then hit the road to Los Angeles for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Invitational, which is scheduled for Sept. 22-24 at USC's Uytengsu Aquatics Center.

Make sure you have Wednesday, Sept. 27 (6 p.m.) on your calendar as one of the most anticipated games every season goes down when the Tritons host LMU in the Battle of the Kings. The UC San Diego student body will be back on campus and Canyonview will be rocking. Last season, 1,350 fans packed the stands for the game.

UC Irvine hosts the first Big West/West Coast Conference Invite Sept. 30-Oct. 1 at Anteater Aquatics Complex.

The Tritons host back-to-back Big West games as UC Irvine is at Canyonview on Oct. 6 (6 p.m.) and Cal State Fullerton is in town a week later on Oct. 13 (7 p.m.). This is the first season that Cal State Fullerton is fielding a men's water polo team, so be there to see the Tritons and Titans go at it for the first time.

After a pair of non-conference games against Westcliff at home on Oct. 14 (1 p.m.) and LMU in Los Angeles on Oct. 21, UC San Diego returns to Big West action. The Tritons head up the coast to take on UC Santa Barbara on Oct. 29 and then host UC Davis on Nov. 4 (12 p.m.).

The regular season comes to a close with two more home tilts against non-conference opponents - November 9 vs. Biola (6 p.m.) and Nov. 11 vs. Chapman (12 p.m.).

UC San Diego is excited to play host to the first Big West Men's Water Polo Championship. The event is slated for Nov. 17-19 at Canyonview Aquatic Center in La Jolla. All six Big West squads - Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, and UC Santa Barbara - will be in contention for the inaugural conference title and automatic berth in the NCAA National Collegiate Championship that goes along with it.

USC hosts the 2023 NCAA National Collegiate Men's Water Polo Championship Nov. 30-Dec. 3 at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center in Los Angeles. The Trojans advanced to the 2022 national title game, falling to California by a single goal. 

In 2022, Matt Ustaszewski's first campaign as head coach and the Tritons' final season as a member of the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA), UC San Diego compiled a 14-13 overall record with a 6-2 mark in conference play. Regular season WWPA wins came against Fresno Pacific, Concordia, Biola, California Baptist, Santa Clara, and Air Force.

As the third seed at the WWPA Championship at Loyola Marymount, the Tritons earned a spot in the title game by topping sixth-seeded California Baptist in a quarterfinal and second-seeded LMU in a semifinal. An epic championship match-up ensued, with top-seeded and reigning WWPA champion UC Davis coming away with a narrow, 13-12 victory in overtime.

UC San Diego was ranked as high as 10th in the nation in 2022. Senior Vedran Latkovic earned All-America honorable mention from the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC). Along with Latkovic, sophomore Rhys Bugelli and senior Alexander Nemeth picked up All-WWPA accolades. Bennett Axline was tabbed the WWPA Freshman of the Year and selected to the league's all-freshman team. Out of the pool, 18 Tritons were recognized as ACWPC All-Academic Team members and 11 garnered All-Academic nods from the WWPA.

During its time in the WWPA, UC San Diego won 19 conference titles.

Please click here for the complete season schedule. Ticket information for 2023 will be announced soon.

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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 90 percent, the highest rate among public institutions in Division I or II. For more information on the Tritons, visit UCSDtritons.com or follow UC San Diego Athletics on social media @UCSDtritons.