LA JOLLA, Calif. - There had been a distinct feeling in the air this week around the University of California San Diego men's soccer team, that the 2015 season-opening draw at Saint Martin's University did not sit well with the Tritons.

Saturday night at Triton Soccer Stadium, they made it right, and made it right in short order, scoring twice within 10:24 before exploding for five in all for the first half, toward a 6-0 demolition of the visiting Saints.

UC San Diego remained perfect at 4-0, achieving that starting mark for the first time since the 2008 season, ninth-year head coach Jon Pascale's first in charge. SMU, a member of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference out of Lacey, Wash., fell to 1-3. The Saints had grabbed an 84th-minute equalizer in that meeting last Sept. 3.

Uly de la Cal and Andy Sartor scored two apiece, with Justice Duerksen and Christian Cordell each adding one. It was a first collegiate brace for de la Cal, a junior striker who now already has a career-best three strikes on the season. Sartor's double meant the first two of his college days for the sophomore winger.

Cameron McElfresh made one stop over the first 45 minutes in the Triton net. Fellow senior Tyler Shaver then earned his college debut, taking over at the interval and coming up with his first career save while keeping the clean sheet intact in the second half. It was a second successive shutout for UCSD.

Duerksen opened the scoring with his first of 2016 as he dribbled down his right flank, cut in, and unfurled a wicked left-footed effort from outside the penalty box that appeared to take a deflection which fooled SMU goalie Griffin Small, contacting the net to his left at 8:05.

Within two and a half minutes, it was 2-0, as Malek Bashti's shot found the left post, with Sartor in the right place at the right time to tap in the rebound.

The last 15 minutes of the first half enabled UCSD to ice the game for good. In the 32nd, de la Cal navigated his way left to right before sending Cordell in toward goal. The sophomore made no mistake with his right-footed finish, for his second in as many games this week.

Then, de la Cal turned in a two-goal flurry over 60 seconds, right before the break. He first latched onto redshirt sophomore Jeff Powers' deep pass and found the target at 40:28. The assist was Powers' first career point. Exactly a minute later, Cordell was dragged down in the box by Christian Caro, and de la Cal stepped up to bury the penalty kick.

Taking full advantage of the ability to rest some personnel in half number two, Pascale still saw his crew up the advantage by one, while keeping the opposition at zero. In the 83rd, junior left back Steven Ortiz slipped a ball to Bashti, whose back-heel pass found Sartor. Sartor's shot from the right diagonal managed to squeeze through under the reach of reserve goalkeeper Ian Fry for the final 6-0 bulge.

Bashti continues to lead both the team and the CCAA with five assists on the year.

UCSD finally concludes its season-opening five-game homestand this Wednesday, Sept. 14, hosting city rival Point Loma (1-0-3) in a critical clash of in-form West Region sides. Kickoff at Triton Soccer Stadium is set for 7 p.m. Admission is free, with a live stream in HD at UCSDtritons.tv.

Triton Notes: This is the third straight season in which UCSD and SMU have played each other, with the all-time series now 2-1-1 in favor of the Tritons ... At the point that Andy Sartor scored at the 10:24 mark, the Tritons had gotten seven goals over on the season, all from different scorers ... The last time UCSD tallied six goals in a game, was in another 6-0 home victory, over Cal State East Bay, in the 2010 finale on Oct. 31 ... That was also the last time the Tritons produced five goals in a single half, with five coming after the intermission that day ... This is the first time in its NCAA Division II era (since 2000) that UCSD put together five goals in the first half ... The Tritons already have more multi-goal games, three, than the entire 2015 season (two) ... UCSD has 11 goals already with two matches still to play on the non-conference schedule, after managing just 15 in 18 contests in 2015 ... The result snapped a string of three straight one-goal decisions for UCSD, with all three winners coming after the hour mark ... The Tritons are now 9-1-2 over their last 12 in La Jolla going back to the start of their 2015 campaign ... Sophomore left back Quinn Allan made his season debut as a second-half substitute.

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