SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The fourth-ranked UC Santa Barbara men's water polo team took down No. 14 UC Irvine 15-10 on Saturday afternoon at Campus Pool thanks to senior utility Ivan Gvozdanovic's four goals and sophomore driver Nathan Puentes' hat trick.
Gvozdanovic opened the scoring in the first period for the Anteater's Casey Lynton to equalize, but Puentes put away a penalty shot and a powerplay chance that helped Santa Barbara lead at the end of the first period.
The two teams scored four goals apiece in the second quarter, making it the only quarter in which UCSB didn't outscore Irvine.
Having taken a 7-5 lead into the second half, Santa Barbara redshirt junior attacker Adam Lott found the back of the cage to get things started in the third quarter, and Gvozdanovic followed up the goal with one of his own to extend the UCSB lead to 9-5.
Another Puentes penalty shot, along with goals from junior defender Mason McQuet and sophomore attacker Sam Nangle, gave Santa Barbara a commanding 12-8 advantage at the end of the third quarter.
McQuet, Gvozdanovic, and junior attacker Cole Brosnan rounded out the scoring in the fourth quarter.
Prior to the match, the Gauchos recognized their six seniors in Gvozdanovic, Lott, attacker Jacob Halle, driver Tommy Fellner, goalkeeper Justyn Barrios, and defender Blake Spiller in a pregame ceremony.
UCSB heads up north to face San Jose State in a GCC contest on Saturday, Nov. 9. The action begins at 12 p.m.
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