MALIBU, Calif. – The fifth-ranked UC Santa Barbara men's water polo team closed out its regular season with a 17-10 loss at no. 6 Pepperdine's Memorial Pool on Saturday afternoon.

The defeat drops the Gauchos' record to 19-6 and 3-2 in Golden Coast Conference play, earning them the no. 3 seed at the upcoming GCC Championships beginning next week.

Junior attacker Cole Brosnan and redshirt sophomore attacker Leo Yuno put the Gauchos up twice within the first four minutes, but Pepperdine answered back both times to make the score 2-2.

Then, redshirt junior center Adam Lott and senior utility Ivan Gvozdanovic delivered goals to put UCSB up 4-2 before the Waves' Balazs Kosa cut the Gaucho lead to one at the end of the first period.

The second quarter was all Pepperdine, as the home side rattled off five goals with Yuno and freshman attacker Mason Chambliss providing the only interruption for UCSB.

After the halftime break, the Waves picked up where they left off with back-to-back goals from Sean Thomas and Chris Dilworth that kickstarted an 8-3 third quarter.

At that point, Pepperdine had secured itself a 16-9 lead, and each team scored one goal apiece in the fourth quarter for the final 17-10 scoreline.

The Gauchos are the third seed in next week's Golden Coast Conference Championships, which will take place at Pepperdine, and will face sixth-seeded UC Irvine on Friday, Nov. 22 at 11:00 a.m.

The winner of the UCSB-UC Irvine game will advance to a matchup with second-seeded Pepperdine in the semifinal round, scheduled to take place on Saturday.

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