IRVINE, Calif. — The No. 11 UC Santa Barbara Men's Water Polo team heads to Orange County for its penultimate Big West match of the season on Friday night, knowing a third straight top-10 upset would put them in pole position for The Big West Regular Season Championship. The Gauchos — fresh off wins over No. 8 UC San Diego and No. 9 Long Beach State — will face No. 8 UC Irvine at the Anteater Aquatics Complex in a clash between two of the four teams tied atop the conference standings.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend, Santa Barbara beat UC Irvine's Orange County rivals, Long Beach State, behind a tremendous defensive effort that saw the Gauchos hold a Beach offense that averaged over 18 goals a match to just eight. The week before, they held UC San Diego's attack to the same total in a crucial road win. Goalkeeper Wyatt Pieretti earned his just reward for anchoring that staunch resistance, scoring the first goal of his collegiate career to help finish off the Beach on Saturday.
 
But when it comes to goals, no scorer is more prolific than Serbian freshman Luigi Canepa, whose four goals and one assist against Long Beach State look modest only in comparison to his six goals and four assists at UC San Diego, a haul which earned him his record fourth Big West Player of the Week award of the season. His conference-leading 75 goals are already tied as the 10^th-highest-scoring season in program history with at least four games still to play.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
No. 8 UC Irvine became the last team to lose its perfect conference record last Friday night, suffering a 16-15 defeat at the hands of now-No. 7 UC San Diego. Those Tritons are the only team outside of the big four — UCLA, USC, Stanford and California — to beat the Anteaters this season, having done so twice now. In Alex Lopez and Johann Thrall, UC Irvine has a pair of 45-goal scorers, while Cole Francisco was selected to The Big West Preseason Coaches' Team. He has 36 goals and 27 assists to lead the team in total points.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
The Gauchos and Anteaters will get underway at 6 p.m. from the Anteater Aquatics Complex in Irvine on Friday, Oct. 30. Fans can follow along with live stats and play-by-play updates at ucsbgauchos.com/MWP_Stats.