CLAREMONT, Calif. — The No. 12 UC San Diego men's water polo team split a pair of games Sunday at the Inland Empire Classic, defeating host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and falling to third-ranked UCLA.

The score against the Stags was 15-11 in favor of the Tritons. In the morning game, UCLA took a 14-7 victory.

UC San Diego won both of its games Saturday, taking down Cal Lutheran and Pomona-Pitzer.

After the four tourney contests, the Tritons are 5-3 overall on the season.

------

AGAINST CLAREMONT-MUDD-SCRIPPS
Bennett Axline scored a career-high six goals to help the Tritons get past the Stags. Landon Akerstrom recorded a hat trick and Nolan Roberts scored twice. Felipe Ferreira, Luka Rago, Lucas Romaguera, and Miles Wilson all had single goals.

With the score tied 6-6 coming out of the halftime break, UC San Diego netted nine goals in the second half to ice the victory. 

The teams traded goals early in the third quarter, keeping it even at 7-7. With just under three minutes remaining in the third, Roberts scored to put the Tritons up 8-7 and they stayed in front the rest of the way.

Ahead 9-8, UC San Diego tallied four consecutive goals - three of those coming in the fourth quarter - to go up 13-8 with just 3:44 left in the game.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps had leads on five occasions including 1-0, 2-1, 3-1, 6-5, and 7-6. An Akerstrom goal at 6:45 of the third quarter tied it at 7-7 before Roberts' strike gave the lead back to the Tritons for good.

Triton goalkeeper Logan Estes made seven saves in the win, which included a five-meter penalty shot stop in the third quarter.

Axline had two goals in the first quarter, one in the third, and another three in the final period. Two of his scores were on the power play.

For the Stags, Christian Pang scored four times and Hassen Hove scored twice. Five other players scored one goal each. Aidan Nettekoven hit double figures in saves with 13.

Both teams had 20 power plays with UC San Diego scoring on eight and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps capitalizing five times.

------

AGAINST #3 UCLA
UC San Diego got on the board first when Brendon Fezzey scored just 45 seconds into the game. However, UCLA netted three consecutive goals to take a 3-1 advantage and the Bruins stayed in front the rest of the way.

The Tritons out-scored the Bruins 2-1 in the second period and trailed by just a single goal, 4-3, at halftime. UCLA took it up a notch in the third quarter, scoring seven times while UC San Diego netted three. During that span, Rafael Real Vergara and Ben Liechty each scored twice for the Bruins, while Bennett Axline, Landon Akerstrom, and Felipe Ferreira struck for the Tritons.

UCLA scored three goals and UC San Diego had one in the final quarter.

Seven different Tritons accounted for the team's goal tally. In addition to Akerstrom, Axline, Feezey, and Ferreira, Eamon Hennessey, Nolan Roberts, and Lucas Romaguera scored in the game.

Logan Estes made five saves for the Tritons.

Three UCLA players registered hat tricks including Liechty, Real Vergara, and Frederico Juca Carsalade. Bernardo Maurizi had nine saves in the winning effort.

------

WHAT HEAD COACH MATT USTASZEWSKI HAD TO SAY
"This weekend was a great opportunity for us to continue to improve and connect as a team. We are thrilled with the potential of our younger players and we need these experiences to continue to grow. We knew each game would have its own unique set of challenges and we will learn from the lessons each game presented."

------

TRITON TIDBITS
• The six goals by Bennett Axline against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps were the most by a Triton since Vedran Laktovic had eight vs. UC Irvine on Nov. 10, 2022.
• Landon Akerstrom has scored in all eight games with multiple goals in five.
• Axline has scored in all eight games with multiple goals in five.
• Felipe Ferreira has scored in all eight games with multiple goals in four.
• Jaime Bhattacharyya had a hat trick Saturday against Cal Lutheran. They were the first goals of his career.
• Augi Macchi and Mason Presley scored their first career goals Saturday against Pomona-Pitzer.
• The last time UC San Diego played in this tournament was 2021. The Tritons went 1-1 with a win against Whittier and a loss to No. 1 UCLA.
• Eleven players made their career debuts for the Tritons on Saturday, Sept. 2, during the Triton Invitational including Akerstrom, Bhattacharyya, Finn Bugelli, Emiliano Castro, Ferreira, Eamon Hennessey, Reef Lippa, Macchi, Presley, Nolan Roberts, and Lucas Romaguera.

------

UP NEXT
UC San Diego plays its first Big West game as it hosts No. 8 Long Beach State on Thursday, Sept. 14 at 6 p.m. Friday, the Tritons host sixth-ranked Stanford at noon. Purchase tickets through the Triton Box Office.

---

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 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 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.