LOS ANGELES, Calif. – On the first day of the Mountain Pacific Invitational hosted by USC and LMU, the No. 7 UC Santa Barbara men's water polo team dropped its opening match to No. 10 UC Irvine, 11-8, at Uytengsu Aquatics Center on Friday afternoon.
The two teams faced off once already this season at the Triton Invitational, where the Gauchos edged the Anteaters 14-12 in overtime. This time, however, UC Irvine got the better of UCSB after pulling away in the second half.
Brannan Haket won the opening sprint for the Gauchos, and after more than five minutes of scoreless action, UCSB got on the board first courtesy of an Adam Lott goal at the 2:11 mark in the first quarter.
The Anteaters were quick to respond with two straight goals to take the lead before Boris Jovanovic scored the tying goal on an assist from Cole Brosnan right before the end of the first quarter.
In the second period, Shane Hauschild dished it to Reed Cotterill, who put the Gauchos back on top, 3-2, although only for a brief period of time before UC Irvine tied it again. Tommy Fellner continued the seesaw affair for UCSB with another go-ahead goal, but the Anteaters scored three straight before the half to take a 6-4 advantage.
In the second half, Hauschild scored early to cut the Anteaters deficit to one, 6-5, but UC Irvine went on another run with four unanswered goals to take a strong 10-5 lead in the fourth.
Jovanovic, Mitch Young and Josh Jordan did their best to close the gap with late goals, but the Anteaters held on for the 11-8 victory.
The Gauchos outshot UC Irvine 38-25 in the game but Matej Matijevic, the Anteaters goalie, was a force to be reckoned with, racking up 16 saves. Lovre Milos tallied a game-high five goals for UCI. Justyn Barrios finished with seven saves for UCSB.
UCSB (5-4) will take on San Jose State (3-4) tomorrow, Sept. 23 at 10:40 a.m. at Burns Recreation Center on the campus of LMU as Mountain Pacific Invitational action continues. The Spartans fell 18-9 to No. 2 USC earlier today.
Live stats will be available and can be found here.
UC Irvine 11, UC Santa Barbara 8
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1
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2
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3
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4
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Final
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UC Irvine
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2
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4
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4
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1
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11
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UC Santa Barbara
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2
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2
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1
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3
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8
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UC Irvine Goals: Milos 5, Duffy 2, K. Trush 2, Schuetze, J. Trush
UC Irvine Saves: Matijevic 16
UC Santa Barbara Goals: Jovanovic 2, Cotterill, Fellner, Hauschild, Jordan, Lott, Young
UC Santa Barbara Saves: Barrios 7
