STOCKTON – The No. 10 UC Santa Barbara men’s water polo team defeated Mountain Pacific Sports Federation foe No. 14 Pacific for the second time this season in a non-conference match-up at Chris Kjeldsen Pool on Friday evening. The Gauchos edged the Tigers 7-6 to improve their overall record to 4-2 on the season; Pacific falls to 6-4 overall with the loss.
Sophomore Milos Golic led the way, tallying a hat trick in the win. Golic has scored in 11-consecutive contests, 10 of which have been multiple-goal outings. Senior Miles Price chipped in two goals during the win and sophomore goalkeeper Fraser Bunn tallied a career-high 12 saves for UCSB.
The Gauchos jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first quarter, but the Tigers were able to come back and tie the game at halftime, 4-4. The score remained deadlocked at the end of the third quarter, this time at 5-5. UCSB prevailed in the fourth, outscoring their host 2-1 to take the 7-6 victory.
The win marked the second of the season over Pacific; the first was a 9-6 victory at the UC San Diego Triton Invitational on Sept. 7. The two teams are guaranteed to meet one more time this year on Nov. 2 for their official MPSF pairing of the season; that contest will also take place at Pacific.
UCSB will remain in Stockton for the 2008 Northern California Tournament being hosted by Pacific this weekend. The Gauchos will face No. 7 UC Irvine in the tournament’s first round on Saturday at 9:20 a.m. at St. Mary’s High School.
UC Santa Barbara 7, Pacific 6
1 2 3 4 Final UCSB 3 1 1 2 7 UOP 1 3 1 1 6
UCSB Goals: Milos Golic 3, Miles Price 2, Stefan Partelow 1, Brian Bishop 1.
UCSB Goalie Saves: Fraser Bunn 12.
Pacific Goals: Austin Delong 2, Grant Hollis 1, William Milcovich 1, Shane Mahoney 1, Tyler Reardon 1.
Pacific Goalie Saves: Brian Domecus 6.
