MALIBU, Calif. — The No. 19 UC Santa Barbara Men's Water Polo team was ever so close to a perfect trip to Malibu on Thursday, defeating Whittier comfortably and forcing double overtime against No. 12 Pepperdine. Billy Rankin scored five goals to power the Gauchos past the Poets, 23-10, in the first action of the day, while Brock Zamanian and Danilo Dragovic led the offense against the Waves. Santa Barbara led, 8-5, at the half before the scores finished tied at 12 after regulation; the Blue and Gold managed to force a second, golden-goal overtime period, but it was Pepperdine scoring the decisive goal to win, 15-14.
 
No. 19 UC SANTA BARBARA 23, WHITTIER 10
The Gauchos capitalized on Poet fouls in the first game of the day, scoring after six of Whittier's 13 exclusion fouls in the game. Santa Barbara took a big lead early and never let it go, leading 7-2 after the first quarter and having scored more times by halftime than the Poets would manage all game long. Luke Redoutey, Oliver Sherwood, Sean O'Brien, Tyler Roller and Rankin combined to tally the Gauchos' seven first-quarter goals, with one of Sherwood's two, one of Rankin's two and O'Brien's one all coming on either penalty shots or 6-on-5 opportunities.
 
Thomas Colpo, Charlie Johnson and Ryan McManigal added their names to the scoresheet in the second quarter, with O'Brien adding his second goal of the day just before halftime, as Santa Barbara led, 11-4, at the break. Haakon Lacy had handled goalkeeping duties in the first 16 minutes, making five saves.
 
On their first possession after halftime, Sam McKenzie took advantage of another 6-on-5 chance to score his first goal of the day, and got his second in the same way a minute later. Johnson also scored twice in the quarter, as did Rankin, with Roller getting in on the act again as Santa Barbara put up seven goals in one frame for the second time in the game. Leading 18-8 heading into the final quarter, the Gauchos had the game comfortably in hand, but that did not stop Camren Simoncelli, Kai Ross, Landon Lassahn, Colpo and Rankin from each denting the twine one more time before the buzzer sounded. Wyatt Pieretti made four saves in goal after taking over for Lacy at the break.
 
No. 19 UC SANTA BARBARA 14 No. 12 PEPPERDINE 15 (2OT)
Both teams scored on their first possession in the nightcap, with McKenzie's goal kick-starting a crucial 4-0 run for the Gauchos. Dragovic and Zamanian were part of it, with McKenzie tallying a second time in the span. Dragovic was in the goals again to start the second quarter, with Lassahn joining the party to keep Santa Barbara ahead by a pair. Rankin scored inside the last minute, and Zamanian beat the buzzer to send the Gauchos into halftime with an 8-5 lead.
 
Pepperdine got a goal back, out-scoring Santa Barbara 4-3 in the third quarter, but the fourth was the pivotal period. Zamanian scored for the Gauchos, his third of the game, but he was the only scorer in Blue and Gold. The Waves scored three more goals, tying the score at 12-12 with just under four minutes to play. The Santa Barbara defense, anchored by Levi Lentin in goal, managed to stem the tide and keep the scores level at the horn.
 
Pepperdine scored twice in the first half of overtime, with Dragovic tallying one in response. Needing another goal in the second overtime half, Dragovic came through again, putting his fourth goal of the game in the cage to keep the game going. Lentin and the Gaucho defense kept the Waves out for the first 90 seconds of the golden goal period, but the Santa Barbara attack was not able to find a winning goal in that time either. When Pepperdine finally broke through, that ended the game.
 
UP NEXT
The Gauchos continue their big, barnstorming weekend on Friday, heading to Thousand Oaks for a pair of matches at Cal Lutheran's Samuelson Aquatic Center. Santa Barbara will take on No. 4 Stanford at 12 noon and Cal Lutheran at 3 p.m.