IRVINE, Calif. — The No. 18 UC Santa Barbara Women's Water Polo team (9-5) is back in the pool after a week off, traveling to Orange County to face some of the nation's top teams at UC Irvine's Barbara Kalbus Invitational. The Gauchos will open their weekend against No. 4 California (8-0) on Friday, then face either No. 5 Hawai'i (7-2) or No. 17 Indiana (10-2) in their first of two Saturday games. Santa Barbara's second Saturday opponent and their Sunday foe will be determined by results of the first two games.
LAST TIME OUT
The Gauchos took last weekend off after starting their season by playing 14 games in four weeks, including two cross-country road trips. Two weekends ago, Santa Barbara went 2-2 at Harvard's Crimson Classic, with wins over then-No. 21 Brown and Villanova.
Imani Clemons had a great weekend back east, scoring 10 goals on 16 shots.
Juju Amaral mostly played facilitator, tallying 11 assists, but also netted seven goals herself.
Annie Kuester continued to be the focal point in the Gaucho attack, firing off a team-high 24 shots on the weekend, scoring six goals.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
No. 4 California played a one-off game against UC Davis last weekend, winning 18-11 to extend their unbeaten start to the season. The Golden Bears have also toppled Fresno State (twice), San Jose State (twice), UC San Diego, Long Beach State and Pacific, never allowing more than 11 goals and never scoring fewer than 13. Veteran attackers Ruby Swadling and Elena Flynn lead the attack with 20 goals each (22 for Swadling), while Talia Fonseca has been the first choice in goal, posting a .474 save percentage through the first eight games.
No. 5 Hawai'i has been off for two weeks since their last action and will get back in the pool against Indiana on Friday. The Rainbow Wahine have lost just twice, and both times were against the teams currently tied at No. 1 in the national rankings: Stanford and USC. Freshman attacker Ema Vernoux, who competed for France at the 2024 Olympics, leads the team with 29 goals, while senior utility Jordan Wedderburn is second with 22. Sophomore Daisy Logtens has played the majority of the minutes in goal and has a 10.07 goals-against average.
No. 17 Indiana has seen the Gauchos before, escaping with a narrow victory at home in January as part of a season-opening 10-game win streak. However, the streak has been snapped and the Hoosiers come into this weekend on a two-game skid after losses to Michigan and Wagner last weekend. Indiana has four players with 20 goals to their names already: Skylar Kidd (32), Louisa Downes (23), Sophia Sollie (22) and Nicole Tyner (20). In goal, first-choice netminder Jasmine Higgs has an 8.38 goals-against average. She made 17 saves against the Gauchos earlier this year.
The rest of the field includes the vast majority of the nation's top 10 teams, including joint-No. 1s Stanford and USC as well as No. 3 UCLA. Long Beach State and UC Davis, tied at No. 8 in the rankings, will be in attendance, as will Arizona State and UC San Diego, who currently share custody of the No. 10 spot. No. 14, who Santa Barbara upset earlier this year, will be involved as well, with Cal State Fullerton, Biola and Pomona-Pitzer rounding out the field.
WHEN AND WHERE TO WATCH
The Gauchos' first action of the weekend is set for 12:40 p.m. on Friday, when they take on California at UC Irvine's Anteater Aquatics Complex. Santa Barbara's first game on Saturday is then set for 9:20 a.m., but the opponent and location depend on Friday's result. If the Gauchos upset the Golden Bears, they will stay at Anteater Aquatics Complex and play the winner of the Hawai'i-Indiana game. With a loss, they will face the loser of that matchup at Corona Del Mar High School. After that, the Gauchos will play one more game on Saturday and a final game on Sunday. Times, opponents and venues for those contests will be determined by Santa Barbara's results. Check ucsbgauchos.com for the most up-to-date schedule and for live stats of all four of the Gauchos' games.
