DAVIS, Calif. — The No. 15 UC Santa Barbara Men's Water Polo team heads north this weekend, visiting No. 6 UC Davis in a crucial Big West match. With two conference games remaining in the season, Saturday is a must-win scenario for the Gauchos to stay in contention for one of the top two seeds in the conference tournaments and the coveted first-round bye that comes with it. While there are 11 spots between Santa Barbara and the Aggies in this week's rankings, the Gauchos have had a propensity for upsetting specifically sixth-ranked teams this season, having knocked both San Jose State and UC San Diego off when they sat on that specific perch. For an extra bit of optimism, that win over the Spartans earlier this month came up north, in San Jose.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Even with all the unpredictability in the sport, it has been almost guaranteed this season that a UC Santa Barbara Water Polo game will be a close one. Twelve of the Gauchos' last 18 games have been decided by two goals or fewer, eight of them by a single goal. Unfortunately, Santa Barbara has been on the wrong end of the last two of those scorelines, most recently suffering an 11-9 defeat at Long Beach State, despite the efforts of Danilo Dragovic and Brock Zamanian, who combined to score five of the Gauchos' nine goals. Dragovic added four assists as well.
 
GAUCHOS TO KNOW
The dynamic duo of the sophomore Dragovic and redshirt senior Zamanian have led the Santa Barbara attack this season, with 56 and 47 goals respectively. Dragovic's tally is good for second in The Big West, while Zamanian is close behind, ranking fifth. The young Montenegrin leads the conference outright in total points thanks to his 18 assists, and Zamanian is again close behind on that list, in fourth.
 
However, Dragovic and Zamanian have also gotten huge support thanks to another youngster-veteran duo, that of freshman Charlie Johnson and senior Sam McKenzie. McKenzie has made 2025 one heck of a swan song, eclipsing both the 30- and 40-goal mark for the first time in his career, having dented the twine 41 times this year. He also has 20 assists, bested only by Johnson's 21. And the rookie is not only a playmaker; he has scored 37 goals in his first season of collegiate water polo.
 
SCOUTING THE AGGIES
No. 6 UC Davis has been the surprise of the season in The Big West, rising from a preseason ranking of 14^th up to the top six, making them currently the highest-ranked team in the conference. A marquee win over then-No. 7 Pepperdine on the season's opening weekend sent them on their way, and they added to their resume with another win over the Waves, plus what was an upset at the time of Long Beach State in non-conference action.
 
Most recently, the Aggies got a golden goal from Andrew Hitchcock to defeat UC San Diego in overtime and remain perfect (3-0) in Big West play. Hitchcock's game-winner, his 25^th goal of the season, saved the Aggies after they had thrown away a four-goal lead in the final 80 seconds of regulation.
 
While Hitchcock played hero for Davis last weekend and does rank third on the team in goals, the man for the Aggies all season has been attacker Thomas Kiesling. The redshirt sophomore leads the team in goals, with 53 on the season, and has turned in some big-time performances. It was his five goals that carried Davis to their first big win over Pepperdine, and he put four past UC Irvine for a crucial conference win earlier this month. Even in the Aggies' losing effort against LMU, he scored seven of the team's 12 goals to try and keep them afloat.
 
WHEN AND WHERE TO WATCH
Saturday's game will begin at 10 a.m. from Schaal Aquatics Center in Davis. Fans can follow along with live stats at ucsbgauchos.com/MWP_Stats.