| Box Score 2 LOS ANGELES — The No. 19 UC Santa Barbara Men's Water Polo team defeated another ranked opponent on Saturday, comfortably seeing off No. 18 Brown, 16-8, in their first of two games from LMU's Burns Aquatic Center in Los Angeles. The second game did not go as well, with the hosting Lions winning the nightcap, 16-12. Sam McKenzie and Landon Lassahn had hat-tricks to power the offense past the Bears, while Zamanian had a hat-trick in the losing effort against LMU to finish with a team-high five goals on the day.
 
No. 19 UC SANTA BARBARA 16, No. 18 BROWN 8
The first game of the afternoon was close for one quarter, but the Gauchos started to pull away in the second and ran away with things after halftime. With four and a half minutes until the break, Santa Barbara had taken an 8-5 lead, and they kept that three-goal advantage at the interval thanks to goals from Charlie Johnson and Sam McKenzie, up 10-7 at the break. After that break, the Gauchos did not wait until the final horn to put the game away, scoring six goals while not allowing a single one in the third quarter. Danilo Dragovic tallied on Santa Barbara's first possession of the half, and Brock Zamanian added on just seconds later. McKenzie completed his hat-trick, then Ryan McManigal scored in short order after him. Camren Simoncelli piled on, then Landon Lassahn finished his hat-trick with what would end up being the Gauchos' final goal of the game. Not that they needed any more. Haakon Lacy played the final quarter in goal and allowed just one shot to get past him, making a pair of saves.
 
Levi Lentin got the win in goal, but it was Wyatt Pieretti who handled the bulk of the goalkeeping duties on the day, making five saves. In the attack, it was Lassahn and McKenzie's hat-tricks leading the day, while Johnson, Dragovic and Zamanian all had a pair. Kai Ross, McManigal, Simoncelli and Billy Rankin also all featured on the scoresheet.
 
No. 19 UC SANTA BARBARA 12, No. 14 LMU 16
The Gauchos got off to a fast start in the nightcap, racing out to a 4-1 lead, but missed opportunities cost Santa Barbara, especially in the second and fourth quarters. Johnson and McKenzie got the Gauchos on the board first, with Zamanian adding another goal to give Santa Barbara a 3-1 lead after the opening quarter. Thanks to a penalty goal from Dragovic, that lead became 4-1 just 90 seconds into the second, but it evaporated by halftime, as LMU went on a 6-0 run.
 
The Gauchos answered back after the break, stopping the Lion scoring and getting some goals back themselves. Zamanian, McManigal, McManigal again and Rankin all scored powerplay goals to pull Santa Barbara within a goal, 9-8, with less than a minute to play in the third. After another LMU score, Zamanian completed his hat-trick to bring his team back within just one at the buzzer. Even better, Ross out-muscled the LMU goalie in front of the cage to force home a game-tying goal in the fourth, squaring the scores at 10-10 with six minutes to play. A minute later, it was Luke Redoutey with a goal, making it 11-11. However, another big Lions scoring run saw them out-score the Gauchos, 5-1, over the last five minutes of play, with Lassahn scoring the lone Santa Barbara goal in that span right at the buzzer.
 
UP NEXT
The Gauchos will be back in Los Angeles next weekend for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Invitational, hosted by UCLA, Sept. 19-21.