LA JOLLA, Calif. — The No. 11 UC Santa Barbara Men's Water Polo team finished 2024's opening weekend with a pair of wins at UC San Diego's Triton Invitational on Sunday. The Gauchos handled UC Merced, 29-6, then took care of business against reigning Division-III National Champions Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 16-8.
 
FROM HEAD COACH WOLF WIGO
"We bounced back and played great in both games," Wigo said. "CMS was strong and played us very well, but we were able to push through with a lot of intensity and hard pressing."
 
No. 11 GAUCHOS 29, UC MERCED 6
The Bobcats scored first in the game, but they led for just 27 seconds before Adam Gyenis scored to equalize. Just seven seconds after that, Danilo Dragovic gave the Gauchos a lead they would never relinquish. Brock Zamanian scored next, the first of a four-goal, six-assist day for him. Dom Brown also pulled in a massive haul of points against the Bobcats with six goals in the game, one of four Gauchos to record a hat-trick in the match. Luke Bachler and Dragovic each brough home three scores, while Will Coons, Hayes Beamon, Ryan McManigal, Sam McKenzie, Finn Genc, Leo Ohannessian, Landon Lassahn, Kai Ross and Griffin Pieretti all scored as well.
 
No. 11 GAUCHOS 16, CLAREMONT-MUDD-SCRIPPS 8
In the final matchup of the weekend for both the Gauchos and Stags, the latter pushed the former, with CMS scoring under a minute into the match. Even after Zamanian equalized for Santa Barbara, the Stags re-took the lead and the teams started to go back-and-forth. Shane Hoover tied the scores at two, then McKenzie put Santa Barbara in front for the first time, just nine seconds before the end of the first quarter.
 
But less than 20 seconds into the second, the Stags had tied the score again. As the second quarter progressed, the Gauchos finally pulled away thanks to their veterans. Gyenis, Zamanian, McKenzie and Hoover all tallied goals before halftime, giving Santa Barbara a 7-3 lead at the interval.
 
The Gauchos then out-scored CMS 5-3 in the third quarter and 4-2 in the fourth to finish off a third straight victory.
 
UP NEXT
Santa Barbara will play their first true road match on Thursday, heading north for a big test at No. 3 Stanford. The Gauchos and Cardinal will hit the water at 4 p.m. in Palo Alto on Thursday. The match will be live-streamed on Overnght.