SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The No. 14 UC Santa Barbara Men's Water Polo team will play its first home match of the year this weekend, hosting No. 13 UC Davis on Saturday. The match against the Aggies will also kick off alumni weekend for the Gauchos.
 
WHEN AND WHERE TO WATCH
Santa Barbara and Davis will hit the water at 12 noon on Saturday from Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta. Parking and admission are both free. For fans following from afar, the game will be live on ESPN+ with live stats available through ucsbgauchos.com.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Gauchos come into Saturday's match 1-0 in Big West play, having defeated Cal State Fullerton, 12-6, in their conference opener last Saturday in Orange County.
 
GAUCHOS TO KNOW
Levi Lentin was a big part of Santa Barbara's conference-opening win over the Titans, making a season-high 13 saves in the match. It was his best performance of the season and a return to his 2023 form, when he was an All-Big West Second Teamer.
 
Dom Brown was also crucial in last Saturday's win, scoring four goals to lead the Gauchos. Brown's haul, which included a first-half hat-trick, was his second highest goal total of the season and the most the redshirt freshman has scored against a Division I opponent. With 37 goals in his first season, Brown is Santa Barbara's second-highest goal scorer and their first-choice center.
 
Brock Zamanian is the only Gaucho with more goals than Brown so far this year, a career-high 42, and he has a record of success against the Aggies. Over two games against UC Davis last year, Zamanian scored five goals and assisted four more. This year, he not only leads Santa Barbara in goals but also assists, with 36 helpers.
 
SCOUTING THE AGGIES
No. 13 UC Davis (9-9, 1-0 Big West) come into Saturday's matchup off the back of a 1-1 week that saw them upset No. 9 Long Beach State in their conference opener before falling to No. 1 Stanford.
 
This year's Aggie offense has been led by a redshirt freshman, Thomas Kiesling, who has 35 goals for Davis this season. Behind him, graduate utility Aleix Aznar Beltran has 17 goals. Aznar Beltran scored a hat-trick in Davis' conference-opening win over the Beach.
 
In goal, the Aggies are without the services of standout goalie Aaron Wilson, who graduated after the 2023 campaign. In his place, they have deployed a committee of four goalkeepers, with redshirt freshman Baxter Chelsom earning the majority of the minutes. Against Long Beach State last week, junior Frank Laptin got the nod and made eight saves.
 
UP NEXT
The Gauchos will stay at home next week, hosting No. 6 Fordham at Dos Pueblos High School on Tuesday, Oct. 22, with start time set at 12 noon for that game.