SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — In their first home game of the season, the No. 17 UC Santa Barbara Men's Water Polo team got pretty much everything they could have wanted: a career milestone for their talismanic goalkeeper, a fourth-quarter comeback and a statement victory over the No. 10 Pacific Tigers.
Levi Lentin made eight saves in the match, becoming the eighth Gaucho goalie to ever record 500 in his career. Fellow veteran
Brock Zamanian led the offense with five goals, though
Danilo Dragovic was close behind him with four as the two attackers provided clutch goal after clutch goal down the stretch of Santa Barbara's 14-13 win.
FROM HEAD COACH WOLF WIGO
"It's a really big step for this team to come from behind in the fourth quarter and win this game," Wigo said. "We've had those slip away, so now that monkey is off our back, now we can relax when we're tied or it's a one-goal game either way, and we have the confidence that we can win these games. Levi played great, had a lot of great saves, Brock was amazing at the end, some huge goals, and Danilo was clutch at the end also. But it was a real team performance, the centers played well, the guards played well. I thought the defense was really great; we gave up a lot of goals that were just weird, one-off plays, but the basis of the defense I was really happy with."
HOW IT HAPPENED
It was a close game from start to finish, with neither team ever leading by more than two goals. For most of the match, it was Pacific with that narrow lead, though that was essentially by virtue of them scoring first. After the Tigers opened the scoring, it took less than 30 seconds for Zamanian to answer for the Gauchos, and Santa Barbara was the first team to capitalize on a 6-on-5 powerplay opportunity, with
Sam McKenzie scoring to put the home team in front. Pacific re-took the lead by scoring in the final seconds of the first quarter, and they scored on their first possession of the second to make it a quick 3-0 run and a 4-2 lead. However, that was their only three-goal run of the day and one of just two spans in which they scored consecutive goals.
Also, Dragovic scored less than a minute after the Tigers had gone up by two, pulling the Gauchos back within a goal and kicking off a series of the teams trading scores. When Pacific scored next, it was Zamanian with the answer. The Tigers scored again, and it was
Camren Simoncelli's turn to respond. Pacific found the net once more before halftime, but once more the Gauchos responded in kind, with McKenzie's goal making it a 7-6 game at the break.
Coming out of halftime,
Charlie Johnson scored first, tying the game, but the goal-trading continued. Pacific took the lead back, only for
Luke Redoutey to come through with another game-tying goal. It was only after that score that the Tigers re-established a two-goal lead with back-to-back scores. But before the third quarter ended, Dragovic dented the twine with nine seconds left on the clock, keeping the game very much within reach to start the final period.
Pacific scored first in that final frame, but Zamanian again provided the answer. Still, the Tigers re-built their two-goal advantage with 4:25 left in the game, setting up what would prove to be the decisive sequence. In the span of a minute and 15 seconds, the Gauchos scored three straight goals, two of them penalty shots converted by Dragovic and one a natural goal by Zamanian, to take a 13-12 lead. Then, with 38 seconds left, Zamanian scored his fifth goal of the day to put the icing on the cake. Pacific pulled a goal back, but with 30 seconds left and the shot clock turned off, all Santa Barbara had to do was play keep-away to secure the win.
UP NEXT
The Gauchos will play three more non-conference matches, all against Pacific's West Coast Conference-mates next weekend before opening Big West play. Santa Barbara will play at Santa Clara on Oct. 3, then both San Jose State and LMU in San Jose on Oct. 4 before returning home to kick off conference play against UC San Diego on Oct. 11 as part of Alumni, Friends and Family Weekend.
