LOS ANGELES — The No. 13 UC Santa Barbara Men's Water Polo team wrapped up the first of two Big West-WCC Challenge events with a pair of games against West Coast Conference opponents in Los Angeles on Saturday. The Gauchos played another close game with the No. 4 Pepperdine Waves but fell, 13-11, in the morning, but bounced back to end the weekend with a win over No. 15 Loyola Marymount, 16-12.
 
No. 13 UC SANTA BARBARA 11, No. 4 PEPPERDINE 13
The second meeting in three days between the Gauchos and Waves delivered as close of a game as the first, with two goals again deciding the winner. Powerplays and penalties were the name of the game in Saturday's matchup, with 14 of the combined 24 goals coming with either an extra attacker or on five-meter penalty shots.
 
It was Adam Gyenis who got the scoring started with a powerplay goal on the Gauchos' first possession of the game, but Pepperdine answered with a powerplay goal of their own barely more than 30 seconds later. Brock Zamanian re-established the Gaucho lead, but a penalty shot and a powerplay goal put Pepperdine up, 3-2, after the first quarter.
 
Finn Genc scored first in the second, also on the powerplay, to tie the scores at three, then the teams traded powerplay goals to make it 4-4. After the Waves took the lead with a rare even-strength goal, Luke Bachler took advantage of the man advantage for another powerplay goal, re-tying the game. The Waves edged ahead again, but Landon Lassahn scored (at even strength) to tie the scores at six heading into the half.
 
When Dom Brown scored to open the third quarter, it was Santa Barbara's fifth powerplay goal of the game. After goals from Zamanian and Danilo Dragovic helped the Gauchos take a 9-8 lead into the fourth quarter, Brown stretched that lead to 10-8 with yet another powerplay goal less than a minute into the final frame. Ironically, it was a series of even-strength goals that helped the Waves take the lead for good though, going on a 5-0 run. Dragovic completed his hat-trick with just over a minute to play, but it was not enough to spark a rally.
 
No. 13 UC SANTA BARBARA 16, No. 15 LMU 12
In contrast to the morning's game, which was tied at six at halftime, the Gauchos had five goals by the end of the first quarter in their afternoon action. Shane Hoover, Zamanian, Gyenis, Bachler and Brown all scored to give Santa Barbara a 5-4 lead over the hosting Lions after one period of play, and then the Gaucho offense and defense both caught fire to race away from LMU in the second.
 
Gyenis had three goals in the second quarter alone, while Levi Lentin and the Santa Barbara defenders held the Lions to just two goals. Dragovic added a goal, as did Sam McKenzie, and Genc tallied just 10 seconds before halftime to make it an 11-6 advantage for Santa Barbara when the horn sounded. Lentin would finish with 10 saves in the game, while the defense tallied nine field blocks in front of him.
 
In the second half, the Gauchos paired a consistent offense with a staunch defense to keep LMU from scoring more than two goals in a row, holding the Lions at arm's length. Dragovic and Bachler both scored in the third, then Genc, McKenzie and Nico Furneax dented the twine in the fourth. LMU never came within three goals of the Gauchos.
 
UP NEXT
Santa Barbara will be back in Los Angeles just under in a week, visiting No. 1 UCLA on Friday, Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. The Gauchos will then make a stop in Thousand Oaks on Saturday, Sept. 28 to play Cal Lutheran at 9 a.m. and Westcliff at 11 a.m.