SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Despite having three players score two goals and sophomore goalkeeper Danny Roland coming up with 9 saves, the UC Santa Barbara men's water polo team saw its hopes of winning the Golden Coast Conference Championships dashed with its 10-9 overtime loss to Pepperdine in the tournament semifinal.
Senior utility Ivan Gvozdanovic helped the Gauchos draw first blood inside of the first three minutes, but Pepperdine's Sean Ferrari scored on the powerplay in the upper left corner to tie things up at one-all.
A short time later, Balazs Kosa fired the Waves ahead 2-1 with 3:15 left to go in the first quarter.
There would be no more scoring in the opening period, but Kosa would extend the hosts' lead by converting a five-meter penalty shot into the right side of goal just 18 seconds into the second quarter.
A Tommy Fellner goal with 4:25 left until halftime started a 3-1 run for the Gauchos, as freshman attacker Mason Chambliss scored a pair of goals in response to an even-strength goal from Pepperdine's Curtis Jarvis to enter the halftime break tied 4-4.
The Gauchos took the lead in the early minutes of the third quarter, with junior attacker Cole Brosnan putting two in a row into the back of the net to get the Gauchos up 6-4.
Pepperdine's Curtis Jarvis found the last goal of the third quarter to make the score 6-5, and after a period in which both teams locked down on defense, the Waves would score again through Sean Thomas with 4:14 left in regulation.
Sophomore attacker Sam Nangle helped the Gauchos regain the lead with 2:20 left in the fourth quarter, but Thomas would tie the game up again for Pepperdine at the 1:55 mark, ultimately forcing the game into overtime.
Thomas completed his hat trick with the first goal of the first overtime, but Adam Lott scored 22 seconds later to put the two teams back into a deadlock at 8-8 with just over two minutes to go in the first overtime.
That's when Balazs Kosa and Sean Ferrari struck at even-strength and on the powerplay, respectively, to vault the Waves back on top 10-8.
UCSB desperately looked for two goals to tie the game in the second overtime, but it came up short, with Gvozdanovic's goal with 13 seconds the only score for either team in the final period.
The Gauchos will face top-seeded Pacific, who lost to fourth seed Long Beach State in the other semifinal, in the third-place match scheduled to take place Sunday morning at 11 a.m.
A livestream of the game is available on the men's water polo schedule page, as well as a link to live stats.
Follow UCSB men's water polo all season long by following its pages on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
