MALIBU, Calif. – The UC Santa Barbara men's water polo team closed out the Golden Coast Championships with a third place finish after defeating top-seeded Pacific 15-10 on Sunday morning at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool.
Following a high-flying first quarter, the Gauchos fought back from a 7-5 deficit after Pacific scored the first two goals of the quarter with a 5-1 run to halftime, led by sophomore driver Nathan Puentes' three-minute hat trick and sophomore attacker Sam Nangle's double.
UCSB added onto its 10-8 lead after the half with Leo Yuno's goal with 5:15 left in the quarter, and a Puentes goal on the other side of a score from Pacific's Jeremie Cote.
With a comfortable 12-9 lead in hand, the Gauchos rattled off three straight goals to lead 15-9 before the Tigers pulled one back with 1:26 to go through Christian Murphy.
Puentes finished with four goals on six shots, and both Nangle and Yuno recorded hat tricks.
Senior utility Ivan Gvozdanovic, who earned a spot on the all-tournament team, scored twice and picked up four assists.
The Gauchos did not earn an at-large selection to the NCAA Tournament.
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