SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The No. 12 UC Santa Barbara Men's Water Polo team returns home after one pivotal Big West win in search of another on Saturday. The Gauchos will host preseason conference favorites No. 9 Long Beach State at Santa Barbara High School for a noontime duel. Saturday is also UC Santa Barbara Men's Water Polo's Alumni, Friends and Family Weekend, as the Gauchos look forward to welcoming back alumni and reuniting with the program's friends and family after the game.
 
REMEMBERING NICK JOHNSON
Especially during Alumni, Friends and Family Weekend, UC Santa Barbara Water Polo is proud to remember the life and legacy of the late Nick Johnson, a Santa Barbara native and Gaucho forever. His character and work ethic remain an inspiration for student-athletes at UC Santa Barbara — where the Gauchos proudly wear his initials on their game suits, retrace his famously challenging hiking route up the Santa Ynez mountains for preseason conditioning and celebrate a Nick Johnson Inspiration Award winner — and across the sport that Nick so loved, as USA Water Polo also bestows a Nick Johnson Inspiration Award during its Junior Olympics tournaments. The Nick Johnson Memorial Fund continues to support current Gaucho Water Polo players and the program as a whole. You can support the Nick Johnson Memorial Fund by clicking here.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Santa Barbara climbed back up two spots in the national rankings after upsetting No. 8 UC San Diego on the road last weekend, a result that puts the Gauchos into a four-way tie for second place in The Big West standings through the first two weeks of conference play. The return of Luigi Canepa was key to Santa Barbara's success last Friday, as the Serbian was directly involved in 10 of his team's 14 goals in La Jolla. With six goals and four assists, it was Canepa's first 10-point game of his exceptional freshman season and earned him his fourth Big West Player of the Week award. Camren Simoncelli and Oliver Sherwood also had multi-goal games against the Tritons, with two each, while Wyatt Pieretti anchored a staunch defensive performance in the cage, making 10 saves to just eight goals allowed.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
No. 9 Long Beach State has gone 3-4 against Division-I opposition since the Beach defeated the Gauchos, 16-9, in non-conference action in Stanford back in September. The Beach also has wins over Redlands, Concordia Irvine, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Pomona-Pitzer and Chapman in that span and enters the weekend with a 15-5 record. Long Beach will play host to Stanford on Friday afternoon before making the trip up to Santa Barbara to meet the Gauchos.
 
The Beach is led by its two centers: Gabi Acosta and Corbin Stanley, who have 92 goals between them. Acosta's 40-goal haul has come in just 12 games after he made his season debut against the Gauchos on Sept. 18. Italian attacker Federico Gulisano adds a third prong to the attack; the Long Beach City College transfer has 48 goals of his own. When these two teams first got together this season, Marc Frigola Navarro and Oliver Sudar each tallied three goals for the Beach. Acosta had five.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
Santa Barbara and Long Beach will get underway at 12 noon at Santa Barbara High School on Saturday. Admission is free and open until the venue's capacity is reached, and fans can catch all the action by watching live on ESPN+ or by following along with live stats through ucsbgauchos.com.