SAN JOSE, Calif. – The No. 6 UCSB men’s water polo team opened its weekend with a 13-7 road win at San Jose State this afternoon.
Reed Cotterill led the Gauchos with three goals, while Anthony Buljan and Josh Jordan scored a pair of goals each. Boris Jovanovic was the team’s top playmaker of the day in recording three assists.
UCSB was busy on defense with the team combined for 10 steals from nine different players, as Cotterill tallied two swipes.
Splitting time in the cage, Liam Lenihan (12) and Chris Whitelegge (eight) combined for 20 saves, while Whitelegge also got involved on offense with an assist.
Almost three minutes into the first quarter, Nick Wiley scored the first goal of the game for the Gauchos, but the Spartans were able to tie the score at 1-1 by the end of the period.
UCSB was quick to break the tie in scoring a trio of goals, while blanking the Spartans in the second. Cotterill, Tor Jensen, and Cameron Yates, all found the back of the net for the Gauchos, as they carried a 4-1 lead into halftime.
Following the break, UCSB opened the third quarter with Cotterill’s second goal of the day and goals from Buljan and Shane Hauschild just a minute later bringing their lead to a commanding 6-1 margin. Buljan would find the back of the net for a second time in the quarter at the 3:45 mark following a goal for San Jose to bring the score to 7-2.
The Gauchos were on a scoring frenzy in the fourth quarter, scoring a total of five goals, three of which happened in the final 4:08 of the game. Cotterill opened the scoring for UCSB in completing his hat trick, while he was followed by Spencer Likins and Josh Jordan, who scored two goals in back-to-back possessions. The Spartans scored two more goals before time expired, but Jovanovic registered the final score in the last seconds of the game, sealing the Gauchos’ 13-4 win over the Spartans.
UCSB will continue its season on the road tomorrow when they play Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif. at 12:00 p.m.
