SAN JOSE, Calif. — The No. 12 UC Santa Barbara Men's Water Polo team made its final non-conference road trip of the season on Saturday, playing a pair of games in San Jose for the second Big West-WCC Challenge of the year. The Gauchos got four goals from Brock Zamanian in the opener but fell to No. 11 San Jose State, 16-13, then got four goals from Luke Bachler to finish the day with a win over No. 15 Santa Clara, 9-8.
 
FROM HEAD COACH WOLF WIGO
"It was two tough games this weekend," Wigo said. "We know both games would be very hard. We played three really strong quarters against San Jose State and unfortunately made some turnovers in the fourth that led to counterattack goals that we really wanted to avoid. Against Santa Clara, we came out strong and were really controlling the game. We let them back in, but we were able to close it out with a strong win and some great controlled play down the stretch."
 
No. 12 UC SANTA BARBARA 13, No. 11 SAN JOSE STATE 16
Zamanian was the first Gaucho to score on Saturday, with Ryan McManigal cashing in just 45 seconds afterwards to give Santa Barbara a 2-1 lead in the first quarter, but they trailed, 4-2, after eight minutes of what was a see-saw match against the hosting Spartans. Zamanian then keyed a six-goal second quarter for the Gauchos to give Santa Barbara an 8-7 lead at the half. Zamanian had three goals in the frame, while Adam Gyenis, Marko Ilic and Nico Furneax all tallied as well.
 
San Jose State then re-took the lead in the third quarter, despite a goal from Finn Genc and a second score from Ilic, and they pulled away in the early stages of the fourth. Bachler scored twice in under a minute, and Ilic completed his hat-trick with just over two minutes left to play, but the rally was not on for the Gauchos.
 
No. 12 UC SANTA BARBARA 9, No. 15 SANTA CLARA 8
The second game of the day was just as back-and-forth as the first, but this time it was Santa Barbara leading after the first quarter. Dom Brown got the scoring going for the Gauchos, and Bachler added two goals in the opening frame to give the Blue and Gold a 3-2 lead after eight minutes. Zamanian then extended that lead to 4-2 early on in the second, but a 3-0 Bronco scoring run gave Santa Clara the lead as the clock ticked toward halftime. Kai Ross came up big, scoring at the buzzer to bring Santa Barbara back even at the break.
 
Coming out of the interval, Zamanian put the Gauchos back on top, then Bachler did the same after Santa Clara re-tied things. The Broncos tied the game again before the end of the third, and they took the lead less than a minute into the fourth. It stayed that way until Bachler converted a penalty shot with less than five minutes to play, and Ilic scored the game winner with just over two minutes on the clock.
 
UP NEXT
Santa Barbara begins Big West play next weekend, making their first trip to the new Titan Aquatics Center at Cal State Fullerton to play the Titans on Oct. 12. The Gauchos will play their first home game of the season a week after that, hosting UC Davis on Oct. 19 at Dos Pueblos High School.