UCSB’s suffocating defense made Sean Castillo’s fourth-quarter goal stand up in a stunning 5-4 men’s water polo victory over No. 2 Stanford at Campus Pool on Sunday. It was the first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation loss for the Cardinal (21-3) this season as the No. 7 Gauchos (15-8) stayed perfect at home.
Head coach Wolf Wigo beat his alma mater — which features two of his younger brothers — for the second time in two years after the UCSB program had gone 20-plus years without a win against Stanford dating back to 1985.
“That was awesome,” said Wigo, whose younger brother Drac scored Stanford’s first goal on a penalty shot. “It was a tremendous team effort.”
Miles Price picked up some of the scoring slack by netting two goals after leading-scorer Milos Golic fouled out in the second period. Jesse Tootell and Travis Watts got first-half goals past Stanford keeper Jimmie Sandman before Castillo’s short lob pass into the cage early in the fourth quarter made it 5-4, which ended up being the winning score.
“Travis Watts took a shot and it was blocked. But it was blocked out and my defender didn’t know it was behind him,” replayed Castillo. “I swam behind him and got it and then it was basically me and the goalie. I lobbed it cross-cage and it went in.”
Golic had a 26-game scoring streak snapped on Sunday.
But the Gauchos won the match on the defensive end.
Gaucho keeper Fraser Bunn recorded 10 saves, few of the routine variety.
“Fraser Bunn was awesome in the cage,” credited Wigo. “It was all about defense today and our defense held strong.”
“Stanford is a great team. They constantly get it in double digits when they’re playing,” Castillo acknowledged. “We knew that we were going to have to stop them on defense and that’s what we did.”
Stanford has more local ties than just the Wigo family connection. Dos Pueblos grads Sage Wright and Cody Wiesen are regulars for the Cardinal. Wright, who scored two of Stanford’s four goals, is a returning All-American as a junior this year.
Stanford plans to further draw from the local talent pool next year when current Santa Barbara Dons players Hunter Ploch and Ian Gamble arrive in Palo Alto to play for the water polo powerhouse.
The MPSF road doesn’t get any easier for the Gauchos (4-2). Their two remaing home matches are against No. 3 UCLA on Saturday and No. 5 Pepperdine on Sunday.
(Photos taken by John Dvorak/PresidioPics)
UCSB 5, STANFORD 4
1 2 3 4 Final Stanford 1 1 2 0 4 UCSB 1 2 1 1 5
Stanford Goals: Sage Wright 2, Jacob Smith 1, Drac Wigo 1.
Stanford Goalie Saves: Jimmie Sandman 7.
UCSB Goals: Miles Price 2, Jesse Tootell 1, Travis Watts 1, Sean Castillo 1.
UCSB Goalie Saves: Fraser Bunn 10.
