LONG BEACH, Calif. — The No. 13 UC Santa Barbara Men's Water Polo team has now played five straight games decided by two goals or fewer (and 10 such games in their last 11), and for the third time in that run, they were on the wrong side of the narrow margin, this time 11-9. Brock Zamanian scored four goals for the Gauchos while Danilo Dragovic recorded four assists and a goal himself, but Santa Barbara was not able to upset No. 11 Long Beach State in Long Beach Saturday night.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gauchos got off to the start they needed, with Luke Redoutey scoring on the team's first possession and Kai Ross making it a 2-0 advantage less than a minute later, but the reigning Big West champions were not going to roll over, and tied the game with two goals in less than 20 seconds. Sam McKenzie scored to restore Santa Barbara's lead before the second quarter started, but when the second quarter started, the Beach tied things up again.
 
The duel continued with two Zamanian goals making it 5-3 before two more Long Beach goals made it 5-5. The Gauchos did get the last laugh before halftime, with Landon Lassahn putting Santa Barbara ahead, 6-5, at the break.
 
However, a disastrous third quarter put the Gauchos in a big hole after the break. The Beach scored on their first possession, and while Zamanian scored to answer less than 30 seconds later, that was Santa Barbara's only goal of the quarter. Meanwhile, Long Beach scored three more times to take a 9-7 lead into the final frame.
 
Dragovic converted a penalty to cut that margin down to just one with six minutes left to play, but back-to-back Beach goals, one with 5:38 left and the other with 2:10 left, made it 11-8 with just 120 seconds left to play, a nearly impossible scoreline for the trailing team to recover from. Zamanian scored his fourth goal of the day with 45 seconds left on the clock, but by then it was too little, too late.
 
UP NEXT
The Gauchos now face the daunting trip north to face No. 6 UC Davis next weekend in a crucial matchup. The Aggies, like the Beach, are undefeated in conference play this season, and with just two Big West matches left, a loss would put Santa Barbara out of contention for a first-round bye in The Big West Championship in late November.