LOS ANGELES — The No. 18 UC Santa Barbara Women's Water Polo team (0-2) looks to secure its first win of the year after opening the season at California Baptist's The Joust last weekend. The Gauchos return to the pool on Friday afternoon, taking on Biola (0-4) before a rematch with No. 2 USC (2-0) at the Trojans' Uytengsu Aquatics Center in Los Angeles. This doubleheader allows the Gauchos to test their resilience, with a young roster looking to gain valuable experience before heading deeper into the 2026 season. 
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Gauchos saw USC just last week, one of their two losses at The Joust. Despite suffering a 17-5 defeat to the Trojans, Santa Barbara showed some fight. On offense, the Gauchos' longest-tenured player and captain, Cami Mras, led the way with three goals in the match. In the later game against California Baptist, also a loss, it was fellow captain Isabel Valaika leading the scoring with three of her own. Despite the results, the opening weekend offered valuable experience as the Gauchos look to turn things around heading into Friday. Keira Wall and Siena Jumani both made their collegiate debuts in goal against USC, with Jumani saving a five-meter penalty. Against CBU, Italian youth international Marta Maninetti opened her collegiate scoring account.
 
UC Santa Barbara last faced Biola during the 2025 season, extending its winning streak over the Eagles to five straight games dating back to 2022, winning 14-7. Although the Gauchos' roster looks much different than last year, they do have a pair of returning leaders who know how to light up the Eagles. Valaika has eight goals across three career meetings with Biola, while the third of Santa Barbara's three captains, Molly Souza, has four in those same three games.
 
SCOUTING THE EAGLES
Biola enters the weekend still looking for its first win after four straight losses — 6-5 at Cal State Fullerton and 13-12 against Cal State Monterey Bay on Friday, then 20-7 and 17-8 against Long Beach State and San Diego State respectively on Saturday. Last season, the Eagles concluded their 2025 campaign at the Western Water Polo Championship Finals and, with a trio of key returners in Ava LoBue, Destiny Moreno and Annabella Rapp, are looking to get things going amidst a tough early season schedule. 
 
SCOUTING THE TROJANS
USC comes into Friday riding a winning streak after defeating both UC Santa Barbara and Azusa Pacific at The Joust. The Trojans are coming off a 29-5 record in 2025 that ended with a national runner-up finish and will look to build on their success as they look to pursue another championship run this season. Meghan McAninch is one of two Trojan returners who won gold with Team USA at the U20 World Championships this summer, and she put three goals past the Gauchos last weekend. Israeli center Alma Yaacobi scored four more to add her name to the long list of USC players UC Santa Barbara must try to contain this week.

WHEN AND WHERE TO WATCH
The Gauchos will open the day on Friday against Biola at 4:15 p.m., followed by their matchup with USC at 5:45 p.m., both at USC's Uytengsu Aquatics Center in Los Angeles. Both games will have live stats available at ucsbgauchos.com/WWPLiveStats, and the Gauchos' 5:45 match against the Trojans will be streamed on overnght.com.