COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The No. 14 UC Santa Barbara Men's Water Polo team set a new high-water mark for the program on Sunday, scoring a record 35 goals in its game against Occidental at the Rare Air Challenge on Sunday. The Gauchos defeated the Tigers for the third time in as many meetings this season, 35-8, to finish their weekend in Colorado a perfect 4-0. Every outfield player scored at least once — and so did goalkeeper
Finn Byrne — with
Dash D'Ambrosia and
Kyle Franks each scoring a game-high four. Birthday boy
Kai Ross also had a hat-trick, as did
Charlie Johnson,
Oliver Sherwood and
Tyler Roller, with five other Gauchos having multi-goal days. The 35 total goals break the previous program record of 34, set on Sept. 9, 2023 against Westcliff and are the sixth 30-goal output in a single contest in the program's history. The fifth came just two days prior, in the weekend-opening 30-10 win over Austin College.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Santa Barbara roared out of the gate in pursuit of its new record, scoring 10 goals in the first quarter and 11 more in the second. Ross got things going on the first possession, then Johnson, D'Ambrosia,
Landon Lassahn, Franks and
Camren Simoncelli followed in that order to get the Gauchos' total up to six before the Tigers could score. After Occidental's first goal, Roller, Franks and
Hayden Tully made it three more Gaucho scores in a row before the first quarter was even over.
Dylan Morris brought up double digits, and
Finn Genc,
Sean O'Brien, Ross and Sherwood kept the scoring rolling into the second quarter. Santa Barbara assembled another 6-0 run in that second frame, with Simoncelli,
Preston Bouch,
Sloan Brown, D'Ambrosia, Johnson and then Johnson again the scorers.
Sean Keane scored with 15 seconds until halftime, and the Gauchos led, 21-4, at the break.
The scoring cooled off in the third quarter, with the Gauchos scoring "only" five goals to Occidental's three. D'Ambrosia, Sherwood and Roller were responsible for all of them, with Sherwood and Roller each getting a pair. That relative stall sent Santa Barbara into the fourth quarter needing nine goals to break the record, and that was exactly what they got. They got five of them in a row, thanks to Bouch, Morris, Brown, Ross, Tully and Franks. Then, in the final minute and 15 seconds, they broke the record. Franks scored, then D'Ambrosia tied the record with 34 seconds left. Finally, having allowed just one goal in the quarter, Byrne fired a long shot at the buzzer and found net for his first career score and a new record for his squad.
UP NEXT
The Gauchos have one more weekend on the road before returning home to open Big West play on Saturday, Oct. 10. Santa Barbara will head to the Bay Area on Oct. 3 for a pair of games at San Jose State — first against the hosting Spartans, then a rematch with Saint Mary's.
