MALIBU – The No. 7 UCSB men’s water polo team took fifth-place at the 2008 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship Tournament with a 9-7 overtime victory against No. 10 UC Irvine on Sunday afternoon at Pepperdine’s Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool.
With the win, the Gauchos finish the 2008 season with a 17-11 overall record, marking the program’s third consecutive winning season. UCSB also posted an impressive 7-1 record in overtime games this season.
Brian Bishop was the first player to score a goal after the two teams battled through five minutes and twenty seconds of scoreless action to open the first quarter. During the next possession, James Frank evened the score at 1-1 with the Anteaters’ first goal of the game. Milos Golic and Noah Smith sandwiched a goal by UC Irvine’s Brandon Johnson with a pair of UCSB goals to give the Gauchos a 3-2 lead after one quarter.
Max Parrague, Johnson and Griffin Lerman tallied three consecutive Anteater goals during the second quarter while UC Irvine held UCSB scoreless to take a 5-3 lead heading into halftime.
The Gauchos climbed their way back into the game behind a pair of goals from Miles Price as UCSB outscored Irvine 2-1 in the third to trail by just one goal after three quarters.
Just 50 seconds into the fourth quarter, Dane Lindstrom tied the game at 7-7 and less than a minute later, Golic tallied his second goal of the game to put UCSB ahead 7-6. With 1:31 to go in regulation play, Greg Enloe tied the game 7-7 with an Anteater goal.
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Noah Smith scored the eventual game-winner with 51 seconds to play in the first of two three-minute overtime periods. Jesse Tootell added a goal during the second overtime period, capping off the Gauchos’ 9-7 victory.
Goalkeeper Fraser Bunn posted a game-high 11 saves in the victory.
The Gauchos last placed fifth at the MPSF Tournament in 2006, Wolf Wigo’s second year at the helm of the program. It is the highest tournament finish during Wigo’s four seasons at UCSB.
UCSB 9, UC Irvine 7
1 2 3 4 OTI OT2 Final UC Irvine 2 3 1 1 0 0 7 UCSB 3 0 2 2 1 1 9UC Irvine Goals: Brandon Johnson 2, Max Parrague 1, Griffin Lerman 1, James Frank 1, Jesse Hatch 1, Greg Enloe 1.
UC Irvine Goalie Saves: Matt Johnson 9.UCSB Goals: Noah Smith 2, Milos Golic 2, Miles Price 2, Brian Bishop 1, Dane Lindstrom 1, Jesse Tootell 1.
UCSB Goalie Saves: Fraser Bunn 11.
