Gauchos Open Conference play strong in Fullerton

FULLERTON, California. – The No. 14 UC Santa Barbara men’s water polo team had a dominant night in its Big West opening win over Cal State Fullerton, with the emphasis on the “Dome.” Redshirt freshman Dom Brown scored four goals in his first-ever Big West game and led the Gauchos’ offense as a goaltender Levi Lentin Made a season-high 13 saves in the cage for Santa Barbara. Sam McKenzie And Nico Furneaux made important contributions to the Gauchos’ 12-6 win with two goals each.

FROM HEAD TRAINER WOLF WIGO

“It was a really strong game for us. The defense was very strong and we conceded six fewer goals than the last game. Dom, Sam and Nico were strong on offense and it was a great team performance on defense.” . That was a great start to conference play for us.”

HOW IT HAPPENED

While the Titans scored first, the Gauchos led after one quarter and would stay that way for the rest of the game. Brown scored Santa Barbara’s first goal and both Danilo Dragovic And Adam Gyenis Both scored their own goals in the first quarter, giving the Gauchos a 3-2 lead at the first break.

Brown also scored the first goal of the second quarter, and McKenzie and Furneaux joined in to give Santa Barbara its second 3-0 run in as many quarters. Brown scored his third goal in the final two minutes of the half, completing a hat trick in just two quarters. On the day, the Gauchos posted three 3-0 scores while defensively preventing Fullerton from scoring consecutive goals at any time.

The Gauchos eliminated the Titans in the third quarter with goals from McKenzie Luke Redoutey In the final eight minutes of the game, Santa Barbara increased its lead to 9-4. Brown scored his fourth and final goal of the day in the fourth period Leo Ohannessian also be included in the top scorer list. Furneaux was the last player to score in the game, putting the icing on the cake for the Gauchos.

NEXT

Santa Barbara will play its first home game of the season next weekend, hosting UC Davis at Dos Pueblos High School on October 19th. This game will kick off the Gauchos’ Alumni Weekend festivities at noon Saturday.