LOS ANGELES – The sixth-ranked UCSB (7-4) men’s water polo team took fourth-place at the SoCal Tournament, which was hosted by UCLA this weekend at the Bruin’s Spieker Aquatics Center and Sunset Canyon Recreation Center, on Sunday afternoon. The Gauchos were narrowly defeated by tournament champion No. 1 USC, 7-6, in the semifinals before being defeated by No. 5 UC Irvine, 8-4, in the third-place game.
In the Gauchos’ first game of the day, the Trojans jumped out to a 4-1 advantage in the first period. The Gauchos battled back and outscored USC, 4-0, across the next two quarters to take a 6-4 lead into the final eight minutes of play. USC wasn’t about to go down without a fight and tied the game at six-all in the fourth. Then, with just 52 seconds left to play, Jeremy Davie scored the game-winner, leading USC to the 7-6 victory.
Lazar Komadinic, Dylan Baliani and Zsombor Vincze each scored a pair of goals for the Gauchos in the loss. In the goal, Fraser Bunn tallied 12 saves for UCSB.
The loss placed UCSB into the third-place game where it faced UC Irvine for the third time this season.
The two teams each registered a pair of goals in the first quarter, but the Anteaters went on a 5-0 run in the second and third periods to take a 7-2 lead heading into the final quarter. The Gauchos outscored UCI, 2-1, in the fourth quarter but it proved to be too little too late as UCSB came up short, 8-4.
Irvine now leads the 2010 series with the Gauchos, 2-1. The teams will face-off at least one more time this season when UCSB travels to Irvine on Nov. 13 for a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation contest.
USC 7, UCSB 6
1 2 3 4 Final
USC 4 0 0 3 7
UCSB 1 2 2 1 6
USC Goals: Jeremy Davie 2, Mace Rapsey 2, Michael Rosenthal, Brian Boswell, Tobias Preuss
USC Saves: Joel Dennerley 2
UCSB Goals: Lazar Komadinic 2, Dylan Baliani 2, Zsombor Vincze 2
UCSB Saves: Fraser Bunn 12
UC IRVINE 8, UCSB 4
1 2 3 4 Final
UCI 2 4 1 1 8
UCSB 2 0 0 2 4
UCI Goals: Mitch Wise 3, Douglas Lindsey 2, Cody Scoles, Kyle Baxter, Brandon Johnson
UCI Saves: Matt Johnson 9
UCSB Goals: Zsombor Vincze 2, Milos Golic 2
UCSB Saves: Myles Christian 10
