MALIBU, Calif. — The hearty non-conference slate continues for the No. 19 UC Santa Barbara Men's Water Polo team this week, as they are set to play six games in three days across three different cities. First up, the Gauchos head to Malibu to play No. 12 Pepperdine and Whittier on Thursday. They then head to Thousand Oaks on Friday, taking on No. 4 Stanford and Cal Lutheran. Finally, they will head into Los Angeles on Saturday to play No. 14 LMU and No. 18 Brown.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Santa Barbara has now won seven of its last eight games after going a perfect 4-0 at the Inland Empire Classic last weekend. In wins over Occidental, Fresno Pacific, Pomona-Pitzer and Concordia Irvine, the Gauchos out-scored their opponents 79-32, never once allowing more than 10 goals in a game.  
 
GAUCHOS TO KNOW
Freshman Charlie Johnson led the charge over the weekend, scoring 10 goals and assisting six more across the four wins. He now has 16 goals two weeks into his rookie season, more than anyone on the team not named Danilo Dragovic. He has also established himself as one of the quickest swimmers in The Big West, having won more sprints for possession than anyone in the conference, 12 out of 16. Johnson is not the only rookie making an impact, as Camren Simoncelli has scored 14 goals on just 20 shots from the center position, making him the team's most efficient scorer through two weeks. His fellow big man, Kai Ross, has already surpassed his goal total from his freshman season, with 13 this year. At the other end of the pool, the Gaucho to know in the cage is anything but new. Now in his third year as Santa Barbara's starting goalie, Levi Lentin leads the conference in goals-against average through the first two weeks.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Whittier did not kick off their 2025 season until last weekend, taking on UC Merced, Augustana, McKendree and Air Force at the latter's Rare Air Classic in Colorado. The Division-I Falcons were also the only team to best the Division-III Poets, who never scored less than 15 points in a game on the weekend. Whittier tallied 17 against Air Force but gave up 24 to take the loss. Noah Bigara, the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Newcomer of the Year in 2024, scored four goals to lead the Poets in that game.
 
No. 12 Pepperdine enters the weekend with a 3-2 record, having played just one game last weekend, a 13-8 loss to USC in Malibu. That is the same USC team that the Gauchos were within a goal of in the third period just a week earlier, and on opening weekend, the Waves also beat Navy, but by a narrower margin: two goals to Santa Barbara's five. Still, history is on the Waves' side. The Gauchos are looking for their first win over Pepperdine since 2022 and their first win over the Waves in Malibu since 2021. To get it, Santa Barbara will have to contain the veteran duo of Sandor Gal and Dane Howell, both of whom have 12 goals on the season already. Gal was an All-American in 2024, and Howell picked up a hat-trick in one of last year's two meetings between these teams.
 
No. 4 Stanford will not make things any easier the next day, as the Cardinal has All-American goalie West Temkin back for another year in the cage and a man with international experience in Ryan Ohl, who played at the World Aquatics Championships with Team USA in July. Oh, and they are undefeated on the season. However, they have only played three games, one of which was against American River, a community college. In the two countable games the Cardinal played, they defeated LMU, 15-8, in Los Angeles and UC Davis, 12-6, in Davis.
 
Cal Lutheran was at the Inland Empire Classic like the Gauchos last weekend, and they played three tough teams before being rewarded for their efforts with a first win of the season over Biola. In their three prior games, against Pacific, UC San Diego and UC Irvine, the Kingsmen lost by an average of just under nine goals per game, making Friday afternoon an appetizing matchup for the Gauchos, especially considering Santa Barbara won this fixture, 16-7, in Thousand Oaks last season. The main concern for the Blue and Gold will be shutting down the duo of Levi Cook and Paul Patterson, who nearly lap the rest of their teammates with 20 shots each on the young season. They have nine goals each.
 
No. 18 Brown is making its first trip out to the West Coast this weekend, after winning three games at its home tournament, the Bruno Invite, on opening weekend. The Bears beat Gannon, Wagner and Bucknell comfortably in their home pool but also lost in an exhibition game against Pacific, 23-15. They will play Air Force and Cal State Fullerton in Fullerton before meeting up with the Gauchos in LA. Brown returns all three of their 2024 All-Americans for this year, starting at the back with Greek goalie Dimitrios Kratimenos, who led the team in saves as a freshman last season. Junior utility Máté Tymcyna, from Hungary, finished second on the team in both goals (84) and assists (54), and senior center Ilias Stothart is coming off a 101-goal campaign last season. He won NWPC Player of the Week honors after opening weekend and will be playing in home water on Saturday, having grown up in Los Angeles.
 
No. 14 LMU, despite their record, looks like a team that could give the Gauchos a real tough time, especially since they did not play at all last weekend. The Lions are 1-2 on the season, but one of those losses game to Stanford, and the other was a one-goal defeat to UC Irvine in Irvine. However, their one win, over an unranked Cal State Fullerton, was also a narrow one, just a three-goal margin. The Gauchos also have a positive history against the Lions, having won eight in a row, dating back to 2014. Santa Barbara beat LMU in LA, 16-12, last year, but only seven of those 16 goals are represented on the Gauchos' 2025 squad.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
Details of when and where to watch each day's action are as follows:
 
Thursday, Sept. 11 at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Aquatic Pool in Malibu
Gauchos vs. Whittier at 2:30 p.m.
Gauchos at No. 12 Pepperdine at 5 p.m.
Live on ESPN+ | Live Stats
 
Friday, Sept. 12 at Samuelson Aquatics Center in Thousand Oaks
Gauchos vs. No. 4 Stanford at 12 noon
Live on FloSports | Live Stats
Gauchos at Cal Lutheran at 3 p.m.
Live on FloSports | Live Stats
 
Saturday, Sept. 13 at Burns Aquatic Center in Los Angeles
Gauchos vs. No. 18 Brown at 3 p.m.
Live Stats
Gauchos at No. 14 LMU at 6 p.m.
Live on ESPN+ | Live Stats