Nov. 6, 2004

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - No. 1 UCLA proved why it belongs atop the Collegiate Water Polo Association's Top 20 Poll by thrashing the No. 7 Gauchos 16-5 on Saturday at Campus Pool.

UCLA's Brett Ormsby, a 2004 U.S. Olympian, and Albert Garcia led all scorers with three goals on the match. For the second match in a row, the leading scorer for the Gauchos was junior Chris Gronow, who found the back of the net twice. Senior Brian Alexander along with sophomores Matt Dale and Ross Sinclair each contributed one goal in the Gaucho loss.

The first four minutes of play were evenly matched between the Gauchos and Bruins, with each team netting two goals. UCLA started the scoring on their first drive of the afternoon when Ted Peck found the back of the net seventeen seconds into the match. Sinclair answered back quickly for the Gauchos by scoring his only goal of the match with 6:17 left to play in the quarter. The Bruins and Gauchos would once again swap goals; this time it was Garcia netting the goal for UCLA and Dale for the Gauchos. After the UCSB goal, the Bruins began to run away with the match. UCLA would score three more goals before the end of the first quarter, including back-to-back scores by Josh Hewko. In the second quarter, the Bruins increased their lead to five by scoring two goals and shutting out the Gaucho offense to make the score 7-2.

The Bruins managed to outscore UCSB once again in the third quarter, this time by a count of 5-2. Gronow scored the only goals for UCSB in the quarter. With five more goals in the third, including one by Ormsby with :13 left in the quarter, UCLA took a 12-4 lead into the fourth quarter of play. Ormsby and the Bruin offense started the fourth quarter just as hot as they ended the third, posting the first three goals of the quarter. Alexander managed to extend his goal streak to 15 matches by scoring his only goal with 2:33 left to play. To add insult to injury, UCLA added another goal with :29 left to play to run the final score to 16-5.

Junior goalkeeper Jon Bonafede recorded 8 saves in goal for the Gauchos.

With the loss, the Gauchos fall to 17-9 on the year, 2-4 in MPSF play. UCLA improves to 19-2 overall, and maintains a perfect record (6-0) in the MPSF. The Bruins also extended their now 14 game winning streak with the victory. The Gauchos visit No. 5 UC Irvine on Sunday, and return to Campus Pool's water next Saturday to host No. 11 Pepperdine at 2:00 pm.

Team 1 2 3 4 Total UCSB 2 0 2 1 5 UCLA 5 2 5 4 16 Scoring UCSB Goals: Chris Gronow-2, Brian Alexander-1, Ross Sinclair-1, Matt Dale-1 UCLA Goals: Albert Garcia-3, Brett Ormsby-3, Ted Peck-2, Josh Hewko-2, James Palmer-2, Matt Jacobs-1, Grant Zider-1, Michael March-1, David Pietsch-1 Goalie Saves UCSB: Jon Bonafede-8 UCLA: Joseph Axelrad-7