Sept. 16, 2007

BERKELEY, Calif. - The seventh-ranked UC Santa Barbara water polo team lost a pair of heartbreakers on the final day of the Northern California Open. In an early match, the Gauchos lost 13-12 to sixth-ranked Pepperdine, and then in the seventh-place match they lost a 10-9 affair to ninth-ranked Long Beach State.

In its first match of the day, against Pepperdine, UCSB trailed 8-5 at halftime but closed the gap in the second half. The Gauchos scored four goals in the third quarter to move to within 10-9 at the end of three, but the teams battled to a flat-footed tie in the final frame, each scoring three goals, and in the end the result was a 13-12 victory by the Waves.

Ross Sinclair, an All-American in 2006, notched three goals in defeat, as did Miles Price. Senior goalkeeper Rick Wright had 10 saves.

In the seventh-place match, UCSB and Long Beach State were tied into the final minute. The Gauchos had battled back from a two-goal deficit to tie the score at 9-9 in the final minutes. With time running out, the 49ers worked the ball to senior Travis Buchanan who fired a shot past Santa Barbara goalkeeper Fraser Bunn with just five seconds left to give his team the 10-9 win.

The two losses drop UCSB to 10-4 on the season. Long Beach State improved to 6-2.

The Gauchos travel to UC Irvine on Thursday, Sept. 20, for a non-conference match against the Anteaters. UCSB will play in the Long Beach Mini-Tournament on Saturday, Sept. 22, before returning home for a match against its Alumni on Sunday, Sept. 23.

Pepperdine 13, UC Santa Barbara 12

Team                                1  2  3  4  Total
UC Santa Barbara                    3  2  4  3   12
Pepperdine                          4  4  2  3   13
Goals: UCSB - Ross Sinclair 3, Miles Price 3, Milos Golic 2,
Matt Dale, Stefan Partelow, Coulson Lantz,Travis Watts.
Pepperdine - Adam Hewko 4, JP MacDonnell2, Caleb Hamilton 2,
Clayton Snyder 2, Taylor Watson, Grant Miller, Matt Lee.
Saves: UCSB - Rick Wright - 10
Pepperdine - Jack Curley - 5

Long Beach State 10, UC Santa Barbara 9

Team                        1  2  3  4  Total
UC Santa Barbara            2   3  1  3    9
Long Beach State            2   3  3  2   10
Goals: UCSB - Ross Sinclair 3, Milos Golic 2, Coulson Lantz,
Matt Dale, Brian Bishop, Miles Price.
Long Beach State - Jeff Greenwood 3, Reid Tomassi 2, Travis Buchanan 2,
Nick Korsgaden, Jake Kinne, Clint Winston
Saves: UCSB - Fraser Bunn - 5
Long Beach State - Steve MacKenzie - 9