LA JOLLA, Calif. (Aug. 31, 2023) — The UC Santa Barbara Men's Water Polo opens their 2023 season at the Triton Invitational hosted by UC San Diego this weekend, where three of their four games are against ranked opponents. The Gauchos, themselves ranked No. 7 in the Collegiate Water Polo Association's preseason rankings, will open the weekend against No. 3 UCLA followed by Concordia Irvine on Saturday, then take on No. 1 California and No. 17 California Baptist on Sunday.
WHEN AND WHERE TO WATCH
UC Santa Barbara and UCLA are set to play at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, September 2, with the Gauchos and Concordia Irvine scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. UC Santa Barbara's Sunday games are scheduled for the same times, with the Gauchos and Golden Bears set for a 10:30 a.m. start and the Gauchos and Lancers to begin at 2:30 p.m.
The Triton Invitational is held at UC San Diego's Canyonview Aquatic Center, and tickets are on sale at ucsdtritons.com. For fans following from afar, all four of UC Santa Barbara's games at the Triton Invitational will be streamed by Overnght Media. A subscription is required to watch and can be purchased for $9.99 a month. Live stats will not be available, but a full scoresheet will be uploaded to ucsbgauchos.com following each game.
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE GAUCHOS
This year will be the first season of The Big West sponsoring men's water polo, and UC Santa Barbara tied for second in the conference's inaugural Preseason Coaches' Poll. Junior center
Dash McFarland was selected to the All-Big West Preseason Team. McFarland was the Gauchos' second-highest goalscorer in 2022 with 36, behind only
Sam Nangle. UC Santa Barbara also returns their second-leading assister,
Mason Chambliss, for 2023, but will be without the services of graduates Nangle,
Tommy Hawkins,
Ryan Brosnan and goalkeeper
Danny Roland. GCC All-Freshman Teamer
Luke Redoutey also returns for the Gauchos.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
UCLA comes into the fall after having 13 players compete for Team USA at the World University Games in China over the summer, where they finished in fourth place. The Bruins finished tied with USC in the MPSF Preseason Poll, behind just defending National Champions California. They return All-MPSF First Team goalkeeper Bernardo Maurizi and three of their top six scorers from 2022.
Concordia Irvine will be playing their first games under new Head Coach Justin Johnson this weekend. Johnson played at UCLA and was a graduate assistant at CUI, but will be taking the helm of his first collegiate game on Saturday. The Golden Eagles are looking to improve after a 6-23 season in 2022.
Cal are the defending National Champions and the preseason No. 1 team in the country. The Golden Bears went 23-2 last season, sweeping through the MPSF before defeating Pacific and USC in the NCAA Tournament. Cal returns four-time All-American and three-time MPSF Player of the Year Nikolaos Papanikolaou.
California Baptist are embarking on their first season as members of the West Coast Conference, where they have been picked to finish sixth out of seven teams. Senior attacker Caleb Teraoka has been selected to the All-WCC Preseason Team. Teraoka scored 57 goals and assisted 43 more for a clean 100 points in 2022.
