Sept. 6, 2008

LA JOLLA, Calif. - The No. 6 UC Santa Barbara men's water polo team opened the 2008 season with mixed results on Saturday. The Gauchos defeated Cal Lutheran 22-5 in the opening game of the UC San Diego Triton Invitational before falling to No. 8 Loyola Marymount, 11-8, later that evening at UCSD's Canyonview Pool.

In the first game of the day, UCSB had no problem taking down Cal Lutheran. Freshman two-meter player Noah Smith led the attack with four goals in his first collegiate contest. Senior Travis Watts pitched in a hat trick of his own to help the Gauchos to the 22-5 outcome. Jeff Chaney led Cal Lutheran with two goals in the loss.

The second game of the day against Loyola Marymount did not go as well for UCSB. Junior Zsombor Vincze opened the scoring with a goal with 6:54 on the clock in the first. Two ties ensued before sophomore Milos Golic tallied his second of the game with 50 seconds left to play in the quarter, giving the Gauchos a 4-3 advantage at the quarter break.

LMU outscored UCSB 3-1 in the second quarter to take a one-goal lead heading into halftime. In the first half of the third quarter, LMU continued to attack and posted two more unanswered goals. Vincze fired back and posted back-to-back points to put the Gauchos within one at 8-7 heading into the final quarter.

Both teams went scoreless in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter before the Lions tallied three consecutive goals to gain a sizeable 11-7 lead. Golic posted his third of the game with 32 seconds left, but it proved to be too little too late as LMU captured the 11-8 victory. The Gaucho record now stands at 1-1 overall.

UCSB concludes tournament action on Sunday. The Gauchos will face No. 13 Pacific at 9:10 a.m. and depending upon the outcome, will play for fifth or seventh-place in the tournament.

                1      2       3      4      Final
UCSB            4      9       5      4      22
Cal Lutheran    1      2       1      1      5

UCSB Goals: Noah Smith 4, Travis Watts 3, Dane Lindstrom 2, Daniel Natalizio 2, Stefan Partelow 2, Ratko Paunovic 2, Milos Golic 2, Jesse Tootell 1, Michael Machado 1, Zsombor Vincze 1, Kendell Olds 1, Miles Price 1.
UCSB Goalie Saves: Michael Robinson 4.
Cal Lutheran Goals: Jeff Chaney 2, Scott Bergemann 1, Brandon Gross 1, Doherty 1.

Loyola Marymount 11, UC Santa Barbara 8

                1       2       3       4     Final
UCSB            4       1       2       1     8
LMU             3       2       3       3     11

UCSB Goals: Zsombor Vincze 3, Milos Golic 3, Noah Smith 1, Brian Bishop 1.
UCSB Goalie Saves: Fraser Bunn 6.
LMU Goals: Tim Hummel 2, Edgaras Asajavicius 2, Ryan Fair 2, Mark Milcovic 2, Andrew Aki 1, Julien Lormant 1, Tibor Forai 1.