FULLERTON, Calif. — The No. 14 UC Santa Barbara Men's Water Polo team put together a dominant evening in their Big West-opening win over Cal State Fullerton, with an emphasis on the "Dom." Redshirt freshman Dom Brown scored four goals in his first ever Big West match to lead the Gaucho offense, while goalkeeper Levi Lentin made a season-high 13 saves in the cage for Santa Barbara. Sam McKenzie and Nico Furneaux made important contributions with two goals each in the Gauchos' 12-6 victory.
 
FROM HEAD COACH WOLF WIGO
"It was a really strong match for us. The defense was very strong and we gave up 6 goals less than the last time we played them. Dom, Sam and Nico were strong on offense and it was a great team effort on the defensive side. This was a great start to conference play for us."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
While the Titans scored first, the Gauchos led after one quarter, and it would stay that way for the rest of the game. Brown scored Santa Barbara's first goal, and both Danilo Dragovic and Adam Gyenis both tallied goals of their own in the first quarter, giving the Gauchos a 3-2 lead at the first break.
 
Brown scored the first goal of the second quarter as well, with McKenzie and Furneaux joining in to make it a second 3-0 run in as many quarters for Santa Barbara. Brown scored his third goal in the last two minutes of the half, making it a hat-trick in just two quarters. On the day, the Gauchos strung together three 3-0 scoring runs, while defensively preventing Fullerton from scoring consecutive goals at any time.
 
The Gauchos shut out the Titans in the third quarter, with goals from McKenzie and Luke Redoutey extending Santa Barbara's advantage to 9-4 heading into the final eight minutes of play. Brown scored his fourth and final goal of the day in the fourth, with Leo Ohannessian getting on the scoresheet as well. Furneaux was the last player to score in the game, putting the icing on the Gauchos' cake.
 
UP NEXT
Santa Barbara will play their first home game of the season next weekend, hosting UC Davis on Oct. 19 at Dos Pueblos High School. That match, at noon on Saturday, will kick off the Gauchos' Alumni Weekend festivities.