DAVIS, Calif. — The No. 15 UC Santa Barbara Men's Water Polo team has a lucky number this season: six. With their 16-13 win at No. 6 UC Davis on Saturday morning, the Gauchos have now played three different opponents holding the sixth spot in that week's national rankings and have unseated them all. Saturday's victory, by the largest margin of the three, also crucially keeps Santa Barbara in the running for a first-round bye in this year's Big West Championship, an advantage the Gauchos used to reach the final back in 2023. Brock Zamanian continued his swan song of a final season, scoring four times and assisting three more to lead all scorers on Saturday morning, though Charlie Johnson, Luke Redoutey and Danilo Dragovic all racked up hat-tricks for themselves. Santa Barbara's stalwart goalkeeper, Levi Lentin, matched his career high with 17 saves in the match, in a way besting his previous 17-save performance, as that had required three overtimes.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gauchos drew first blood thanks to Johnson converting a five-meter penalty shot on Santa Barbara's first possession, but that lead lasted just 20 seconds before the Aggies tied things up again. However, the game did not devolve into a goal-fest, at least not immediately. It took over two minutes before the next goal came, and when it did it was from the hand of Dragovic, taking advantage of a 6-on-5 opportunity. But again, the lead did not last and the Aggies scored three times in the quarter's final 120 seconds to hold a 4-2 advantage at the horn.
 
Early in the second, it was the Gauchos' turn to erase a deficit, scoring three times in two minutes go back in front, 5-4. Kai Ross, Johnson and Billy Rankin were responsible for the run. Shortly afterwards, the game of runs continued, as Davis re-took the lead with two goals in a minute and a third on a powerplay just two minutes before halftime. The Aggies got a fourth consecutive score to kick off a frantic final minute of the half, with Zamanian answering back for the Gauchos with 18 seconds left before the Aggies scored to beat the buzzer and lead, 9-6, at the break.
 
The teams traded scores out of the break, Davis scoring first to go up by four before Zamanian tallied his second of the day to bring the deficit back down to three. The teams apparently liked that trade so much that they did it again, Zamanian again the scorer for Santa Barbara to make it 11-8. The trading stopped when the Gauchos were the next to score, Dragovic bringing Santa Barbara with two goals with two minutes to play in the third. The Montenegrin scored again on a penalty shot with 1:20 left in the period to cut that deficit to one, then Lentin made a clutch save at the other end, denying Davis on a five-meter penalty of their own. Then it was the Gauchos' turn to beat the buzzer, Johnson finding the net in the final second to send the game to the fourth quarter all knotted up at 11.
 
It did not take long for the deadlock to break in the final eight minutes, with Redoutey scoring just 25 seconds into the period. He then assisted Zamanian on the next goal and scored his second of the day to make Santa Barbara's lead 14-11 inside two and a half minutes. Davis scored to stop the run and make it a two-goal margin with 2:42 left on the clock, setting up a nail-biting finish, but Ross was clearly not in the mood for drama, the big center stealing the ball and scoring to restore the Gauchos' three-goal cushion with two minutes left to play. That turned out to be plenty, despite the Aggies scoring a final goal with 70 seconds left on the clock, the Gauchos ticked the seconds down and Redoutey wrapped up his hat-trick to seal the result.
 
UP NEXT
Santa Barbara has just two games left in their regular season, paying a visit to No. 1 USC next Saturday, Nov. 8 before returning home on Sunday, Nov. 9 to host Cal State Fullerton for Senior Day at Santa Barbara High School. The Gauchos may just be hoping that the Trojans find a way to slip down to sixth before they meet in Los Angeles.