THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — The No. 19 UC Santa Barbara Men's Water Polo team took their tour of Southern California to Thousand Oaks on Friday, and redshirt freshman goalie Haakon Lacy came ready to play. The rookie featured in both of the Gauchos' games at Samuelson Aquatics Center and stopped more shots than he let past him on the day. His impressive performance was not enough to salvage a win after a slow start against No. 4 Stanford, but he did get to close out the 24-13 win over Cal Lutheran.
 
No. 19 UC SANTA BARBARA 7, No. 4 STANFORD 16
Playing the 4^th-ranked Cardinal is never easy, but going to sudden-death overtime at No. 12 Pepperdine the night before did not make it any easier for the Gauchos, who got off to a slow start on Friday. Santa Barbara scored just once in each of the first three quarters, trailing 9-2 at halftime and 14-3 heading into the final quarter. Still, there were moments to hold onto for the Gauchos.
 
Levi Lentin provided the first gem, saving a five-meter penalty shot with 3:30 left to play in the opening quarter and kick-starting a counterattack. Camren Simoncelli finished that counter at the other end of the pool, tallying Santa Barbara's first goal of the day.
 
The next Gaucho gem came with two and a half minutes left in the second quarter, when Sam McKenzie found Danilo Dragovic with a perfect, arcing cross-pool pass, which Dragovic put home for Santa Barbara's second goal. With two minutes left in the third, it was another great pass begetting a Gaucho goal, with Billy Rankin firing a laser across the face of goal to find Thomas Colpo at the back post, who squeezed a shot between the Cardinal goalie and the iron.
 
Santa Barbara finished the game on a high note, winning the fourth quarter, 4-2. They got a goal on their first possession of the period, with Kai Ross drawing an exclusion and Landon Lassahn immediately converting the 6-on-5 opportunity. A minute later, Charlie Johnson ripped a shot from long range for another Gaucho goal. Stanford earned another five-meter penalty shot on their ensuing possession, but Lacy made the stop, a second penalty save for the Santa Barbara goalkeeping corps and a third missed five-meter for Stanford on the day.
 
A few seconds later, McKenzie converted another 6-on-5 opportunity for the Gauchos' third goal of the quarter. Sean O'Brien made it four in the frame with just under two minutes to go, but that was not the last silver lining for Santa Barbara in the game. Stanford was awarded a fourth five-meter penalty shot, but once again Lacy turned the shot aside, his second penalty save of the day. He finished with three saves but just two goals against him in his eight-minute stint in the cage.
 
No. 19 UC SANTA BARBARA 24, CAL LUTHERAN 13
The Gauchos made the most of their opportunity to bounce back in the afternoon match against the Kingsmen, cruising to a victory that was never really in doubt. Cal Lutheran did score a couple of early goals, but Santa Barbara finished the first quarter on an 8-0 run to take control. They punished Kingsman penalties, with three of the Gauchos' nine first-quarter goals coming from 6-on-5 opportunities. Luke Redoutey cashed one of those in, as did Brock Zamanian and Simoncelli. Zamanian had two goals in the frame, as did Tyler Roller, with Lassahn and Colpo also on the scoresheet.
 
The deluge of goals continued in the second quarter, with O'Brien, Colpo, Zamanian, Dragovic and Rankin all tallying, Dragovic twice and Zamanian's completing his hat-trick before halftime. The Gauchos led, 15-6, at the break, and they put home another six goals in the third quarter to keep building their lead. Ross scored twice in the quarter, once on a powerplay as Santa Barbara continued to take advantage of extra-man situations. In the game, the Gauchos scored on eight of their 6-on-5 chances, for a .571 powerplay percentage. They also converted their penalties, with William Pezold converting a pair of five-meter shots in the second half. Lassahn also picked up a third quarter double, and Colpo was on the scoresheet as well.
 
With a 21-9 lead, the Gauchos entered the fourth quarter in cruise control, with a powerplay goal from Johnson, Pezold's second penalty and a goal from Rankin ensuring it was smooth sailing to the final horn. Lacy finished with eight saves to seven goals against him in his 16 minutes of work in the game.  
 
UP NEXT
Santa Barbara wraps up this weekend's tour of Southern California with a stop in Los Angeles on Saturday, taking on No. 18 Brown and No. 14 LMU at LMU's Burns Center.