University of California, Santa Barbara

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The No. 13 UC Santa Barbara Men's Water Polo team earned its best win of the season as it stretched its winning streak to six games on Saturday. The Gauchos began the day with a top-10 win, taking down No. 9 San Jose State in overtime, 13-12, then ended the day with a second win over first-year squad No. 20 Saint Mary's, 14-8. Luigi Canepa was near-unstoppable again, scoring five times against the Spartans and one more against the Gaels. Charlie Johnson also had a six-goal day, tallying four against San Jose State, including the overtime winner, and two more against Saint Mary's.
 
No. 13 UC SANTA BARBARA 13, No. 9 SAN JOSE STATE 12 (OT)
The Gauchos' arrival in San Jose was more of a kicking down of the hosting Spartans' door then waiting for an invitation in, as Santa Barbara scored the first two goals of the day and had a 4-1 lead inside six minutes. It was Sloan Brown with the opener, then Canepa twice, with a Johnson goal sandwiched in between. The Spartans scored just before the first-quarter buzzer and then tallied the first goal of the second quarter, but Santa Barbara never trailed and reasserted a three-goal lead by halftime, Finn Genc scoring one of two Gaucho goals in the second quarter and Canepa finishing a first-half hat-trick with the other.
 
The second half was far less straightforward, as Santa Barbara fought to hold on against a San Jose State squad that had seemingly remembered it was ranked four places higher in the most recent polls. The Spartans tied the game in the first four and a half minutes of the third quarter, with Dash D'Ambrosia and Canepa responding to get the Gauchos back up by two. Again, the hosts leveled the scores as the third quarter turned to the fourth, with Canepa again breaking the tie. Then, for the first time all day, San Jose State took the lead, holding a 10-9 advantage with three and a half minutes left to play. Johnson's second goal of the day erased that advantage, then Genc gave Santa Barbara the lead back with 25 seconds on the clock. That was not the last twist in the game though, as the Spartans tied things up with three seconds left, forcing overtime.
 
It was a situation the Gauchos had faced just two weeks prior against Princeton: heading to overtime after a last-second equalizer had denied their upset bid. This time, they got the extra period right. Wyatt Pieretti and the defense shut out the Spartans over the first three extra minutes — part of a big, 13-save outing for Pieretti — and Johnson completed his hat-trick to give Santa Barbara a lead. San Jose State equalized with 50 seconds left in the second three-minute overtime period, but Johnson and the Gauchos had one more goal in them, the lefty firing home the game-winner with 35 ticks left. Pieretti and the defense got one more stop, and the upset was finally complete.
 
No. 13 UC SANTA BARBARA 14, No. 20 SAINT MARY'S 8
The Gauchos carried that momentum right into the afternoon game, jumping out to a 4-0 lead with goals from four different scorers: Genc, Hayden Tully, Canepa and Noah Loo. The Gaels came back to get within a goal in the second quarter, but Camren Simoncelli and Landon Lassahn restored breathing room for the Gauchos. Saint Mary's scored last before halftime, but Santa Barbara held a two-goal lead at the interval.
 
Coming out of the break, the Gauchos put the game to rest with a dominant third quarter, out-scoring the Gaels, 5-1, in the frame. Johnson scored twice, Kai Ross tallied and so did Simoncelli, then Tyler Roller added his name to the scoresheet. Each team scored three times in the fourth as the Gauchos wrapped up the win, with Lassahn wrapping up his hat-trick before Brown became his team's last scorer of the day as well as their first.
 
UP NEXT
Santa Barbara will come home next weekend to kick off Big West conference play, hosting new conference members California Baptist at Santa Barbara High School at 12 noon on Oct. 10.