University of California, Santa Barbara

MALIBU, Calif. — The No. 13 UC Santa Barbara Men's Water Polo team kicked off its eight-games-in-four-days gauntlet in Malibu on Thursday, taking on Biola and No. 9 Pepperdine. The Gauchos handled the Eagles in the opener, 17-9, but came a few goals short of a comeback against the Waves in the second match, falling by a score of 13-9 to the hosts. That defeat was despite five goals from freshman phenom Luigi Canepa, who had a hat-trick in the opening game to finish the day with eight more goals.
 
No. 13 UC SANTA BARBARA 17, BIOLA 9
The Gauchos raced out to an early lead in game one, and they made it stick for the full 32 minutes to secure the win. Kai Ross started the scoring, and Finn Genc and Tyler Roller had Santa Barbara up 3-0 inside the first three minutes. Oliver Sherwood added another first-quarter score, and Luka Spasic tallied his first collegiate goal to give the Gauchos a 5-3 lead at the first quarter break. Santa Barbara started the second quarter like the first, with Canepa, Genc and Sherwood scoring three unanswered goals to have their side ahead by an 8-5 margin at halftime.
 
After halftime, the Gauchos came out firing and had the game effectively wrapped up after a monster third quarter. Goalkeeper Haakon Lacy allowed just one goal in the frame, while the Santa Barbara attack tallied seven. Canepa finished his hat-trick less than 90 seconds into the quarter, then Genc wrapped up his. Dash D'Ambrosia converted a five-meter penalty and Sloan Brown joined the party to make it five straight Gaucho goals. Preston Bouch and Sean O'Brien also scored in the quarter, which ended with Santa Barbara up by a score of 15-6. O'Brien was one of two Gaucho scorers in the fourth quarter as well, with Jake Reinke the last Gaucho to dent the twine as he converted his first career score.
 
No. 13 SANTA BARBARA 9, No. 9 PEPPERDINE 13
In the evening matchup, Canepa once again showed his scoring prowess, tallying twice in the first quarter to give the Gauchos an early 2-1 lead, but by midway through the second, Santa Barbara still only had those two goals while the Waves' total was up to seven. D'Ambrosia and Charlie Johnson scored within a minute of each other to start climbing out of that hole, and a penalty goal for Canepa had the Gauchos within a pair at halftime.
 
But in the third, Santa Barbara's hole got deeper again, Pepperdine taking another five-goal lead at 10-5 midway through the frame before Santa Barbara started another comeback. Landon Lassahn and Canepa both scored before the third quarter ended, and Canepa tallied the first goal of the fourth to get the Gauchos back within just two, but that was as close as they would come. The teams traded goals to get to an 11-9 scoreline with four minutes to play, but Pepperdine pulled away in those last four to secure the win.
 
UP NEXT
Santa Barbara heads to Claremont for back-to-back doubleheader days at the Inland Empire Classic on Friday and Saturday, then the Gauchos host their first home games of the season at Santa Barbara High School on Sunday. No. 3 Stanford will pay the American Riviera a visit at 11 a.m. Sunday, with Cal Lutheran hitting the water at 3 p.m.