LA VERNE, Calif. (Sept. 8, 2023) — The UC Santa Barbara Men's Water Polo team is set for their second tournament weekend of the season, heading to the Inland Empire Classic. The No. 11 Gauchos (1-3) are set to play five matches over the weekend, taking on Westcliff (0-0), Biola (0-4) and Austin College (0-0) in La Verne on Saturday, then facing Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (2-1) and Cal Lutheran (1-2) in Claremont on Sunday.
WHEN AND WHERE TO WATCH
Saturday's games against Westcliff, Biola and Austin College will all be held at La Verne's Las Flores Pool and are scheduled to start at noon, 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. respectively. On Sunday, the Gauchos will take on Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Cal Lutheran at Axelrood Pool in Claremont, with start times set for 8 a.m. and 11 a.m.
All five games this weekend will be streamed online on the SCIAC Network, with live stats available through ucsbgauchos.com. Links to each game stream and live stats can be found on the Men's Water Polo Schedule page of ucsbgauchos.com.
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE GAUCHOS
UC Santa Barbara went 1-3 to open the season last weekend at the Triton Invitational in La Jolla, defeating Concordia Irvine handily but falling in hard-fought matches against No. 3 UCLA, No. 1 California and then-No. 17 California Baptist. Center
Dash McFarland showed why he was named to The Big West Preseason Coaches' Team, scoring 12 goals in four games, including six against Concordia and a hat-trick against Cal. Veteran attacker
Logan Sutter finished the weekend second in points for the Gauchos, tallying seven goals himself and adding four assists. Goalkeeper
Levi Lentin played 80 of the 128 minutes over the weekend.
Leif Lacy saved a penalty in the first half against California Baptist.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Both Westcliff and Austin College will be opening their 2023 campaigns on Saturday, while Biola, CMS and Cal Lutheran each kicked off their seasons at tournaments last weekend. Biola was at the Triton Invitational with the Gauchos, facing UC San Diego, Navy, USC and UC Irvine, all top-20 teams. The Eagles lost all four games, conceding a total of 66 goals while scoring only 20. Biola's leading scorer, Maxwell Osborn, tallied a hat-trick against No. 20 Navy in what was the Eagle's closest game of the weekend.
CMS and Cal Lutheran were both at the Rare Air Challenge hosted by Air Force last weekend. The Stags, who are No. 2 in the national Division-III rankings, went 2-1, cruising past Ottawa (Arizona) and Johns Hopkins before falling to UC Davis, 15-5. Cal Lutheran, who come into the weekend at No. 5 in the D-III rankings, also faced UC Davis and Johns Hopkins, falling to the Aggies but beating the Blue Jays. The Kingsmen faced Air Force in their last game, a 16-8 loss.
UC Santa Barbara will be Westcliff's first opponent in 2023, and the Warriors would certainly like to pick up where they left off in 2022. Westcliff's last game was the NAIA Championship, which they won, 19-16. The one catch? The players responsible for 14 of those 19 goals do not return for 2023. Neither does goalkeeper Roberto Barrera, who started the 2022 Championship game.
Austin College, the Kangaroos, come into 2023 after a 6-15 2022 campaign and without two of last year's top goal scorers. They do return their All-MPSF East and All-American center Dylan McArthur, as well as starting goalkeeper Alan Rosenberg. The 'Roos will open their season against Biola before facing the Gauchos on Saturday. Austin College received the most votes of any team outside the top 10 in the most recent Division-III rankings poll.
