CLAREMONT, Calif. — The No. 12 UC Santa Barbara Men's Water Polo team bounced back into the win column on Saturday, taking care of business in a pair of contests against Division III opponents at the Inland Empire Classic in Claremont. The Gauchos survived a scare against defending D-III National Champions Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 12-9, in the morning, then romped to a 25-9 win over La Verne in the afternoon.
 
FROM HEAD COACH WOLF WIGO
"We had a great day," Wigo said. "We knew the game with CMS would be a good test and it provided a lot of needed opportunities for us to work on some things we needed to improve. They came out on fire and we were able to keep our composure and finish the game strong. The game with La Verne, we built on the second half of the CMS game and the result was never in doubt."
 
No. 12 UC SANTA BARBARA 12, CLAREMONT-MUDD-SCRIPPS 9
In their second meeting with the Stags in as many weekends, the Gauchos had to work to put away the 2023 D-III National Champions. Santa Barbara led, 3-1, after the first quarter but were out-scored, 5-1, in the second, putting them down by two at halftime.
 
The Gauchos responded with a five-goal quarter of their own in the third, with Luke Redoutey, Finn Genc, Sam McKenzie, Brock Zamanian and Adam Gyenis each tallying in the frame. Even better, Levi Lentin and the Santa Barbara defense held CMS to just two goals in the quarter, and the Gauchos held a 9-8 lead heading into the final eight minutes of action.
 
Santa Barbara put the game away in the fourth quarter, with Genc tallying again, and Zamanian scoring his fourth of the game from a five-meter penalty shot early on in the period. Leo Ohannessian tacked an insurance goal on with two minutes to play, meaning that the Stags' final score of the day was nothing more than consolation.
 
No. 12 UC SANTA BARBARA 25, LA VERNE 9
The afternoon contest against the Leopards was nowhere near as close as the morning's affair, as the Gauchos scored six or more goals in each quarter and out-scored La Verne, 6-1, in the first. Danilo Dragovic and Landon Lassahn combined for five of those six goals inside the first eight minutes, with Billy Rankin tallying his first of the season in the frame as well. Both Dragovic and Lassahn would finish the game with hat-tricks, as did Ryan McManigal.
 
McManigal scored all three of his goals after halftime, by which point the Gauchos were up, 12-4. Will Coons, Dom Brown and Luke Bachler plus McKenzie, Genc and Gyenis had provided the six scores in the second.
 
After Leif Lacy had handled the first quarter in the cage for the Gauchos, Wyatt Pieretti took over in the second and was just as good, holding the Leopards to five scores, while Santa Barbara hammered in 13.
 
McKenzie and Coons were involved in the seven-goal third alongside McManigal, as were Nico Furneax, Kai Ross and, for the first time this season, Sean O'Brien. McManigal and Lassahn each completed their hat-tricks in the fourth, and Ohannessian got in on the party late too. Griffin Pieretti scored the Gauchos' 25^th and final goal.
 
UP NEXT
Santa Barbara is back in action with two more games from the Inland Empire Classic on Sunday, taking on Redlands and Pomona-Pitzer in Redlands. The Gauchos will take on the hosting Bulldogs at 8 a.m., then face the Sagehens at 2 p.m. Both games will be live streamed on floswimming.com, with live stats available through ucsbgauchos.com.