IRVINE, Calif. — The No. 11 UC Santa Barbara Men's Water Polo team has gotten hot at the right time, completing its third consecutive top-10 upset by defeating No. 8 UC Irvine in Irvine on Friday night, 11-10. With the win, the Gauchos remain atop The Big West standings, holding the head-to-head tiebreaker against UC San Diego and half a game ahead of California Baptist. That set of circumstances means that if the Lancers lose either of their next two games — against Long Beach State on Halloween and UC San Diego on Nov. 6 — Santa Barbara would clinch The Big West Regular Season Championship with a win over Cal State Fullerton on Nov. 8.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gauchos kept the Anteaters at arm's length through a back-and-forth first quarter, then pushed off with a 3-0 second. After the hosts scored first,
Camren Simoncelli and
Luigi Canepa combined to give Santa Barbara its first lead of the game, which lasted for all of 30 seconds before Irvine re-tied the scores. Canepa un-tied them, Irvine equalized again shortly after, but then right at the buzzer Simoncelli fired home and Santa Barbara ended the quarter ahead by a goal.
Charlie Johnson scored inside the first minute of the second quarter, and the Gaucho defense kept the Anteaters off the board for the entire eight-minute period.
Wyatt Pieretti again had more saves than goals allowed defending Santa Barbara's cage on the night and was pivotal to that defensive effort. The Gauchos really made the most of their shutout quarter in the final two minutes before halftime, with
Finn Genc scoring on a six-on-five powerplay and then converting a five-meter penalty less than a minute later. In fact, only seven of Friday's 21 combined goals were so-called "natural" goals, from open play while each team has a full complement of six players in the pool.
Santa Barbara had a full complement of four goals between them and the Anteaters after halftime on Friday, but by the time the fourth quarter was beginning, that margin had been cut in half. Genc had scored his second goal of the day to answer an Irvine score early in the third quarter, but then a 3-0 Anteater run brought the hosts within a single goal. Johnson's tally in the final minute of the quarter restored the multi-goal cushion for Santa Barbara, and it turned out that they would need all of it.
Genc converted one penalty to run the lead back up to three goals with five minutes to play, and Canepa converted another to restore that same margin with three and a half minutes left, but those were Santa Barbara's only goals in the quarter. Instead, the defense had to hold on. It did, barely. The Anteaters scored to pull within one goal with 39 seconds left to play, but the Gauchos were able to hold onto the ball and the win.
UP NEXT
Santa Barbara is back in action for its final home match of the season and its final non-conference contest on Saturday, Nov. 7, when the Gauchos will host No. 4 USC at Santa Barbara High School. Saturday is Senior Day, and UC Santa Barbara will honor its graduating student-athletes prior to the game. The Gauchos and Trojans will hit the water at 1 p.m.
