For the second consecutive day Sunday, the No. 6 UCSB men’s water polo team split a pair of games at the UCSD Triton Invitational, earning a sixth-place finish. The Gauchos got the day rolling with a 9-6 victory over No. 13 Pacific before they fell to No. 14 host UCSD, 12-11. With the split, UCSB now holds a 2-2 overall season record after one weekend of play.
The first quarter against Pacific was a defensive battle and the contest’s first goal did not come until Stefan Partelow scored with 55 seconds on the clock to give UCSB a 1-0 lead at the quarter break.
Pacific’s William Milcovich evened the score a couple minutes into the second quarter. The teams tied the game again at 2-2 before Dane Lindstrom‘s high-corner shot regained the Gauchos’ lead at 3-2. With 29 seconds left on the clock, Sean Castillo tallied his second goal of the game to give UCSB a 4-2 advantage at halftime.
Miles Price scored twice in the third quarter to stretch the Gauchos’ lead to 6-3 heading into the final quarter of play. UCSB opened the fourth-quarter scoring with a five-meter penalty shot taken by Zsombor Vincze. Pacific followed with back-to-back goals before Price posted his third of the game on a cross-cage shot to put the Gauchos ahead 8-5.
Milos Golic scored on a five-meter penalty with 2:48 left in the game for UCSB’s final goal. After missing three consecutive shots, Pacific found the back of the cage one last time with 59 seconds left to end the game at 9-6.
In the fifth-place match-up with the Tritons, UCSD got on the board first with less than a minute into play. Vincze got the Gauchos even a little over a minute later to tie the score at 1-1. The Tritons posted two unanswered goals, but the Gauchos rallied back with two of their own, including Vincze’s second goal of the game to tie things up at 3-3 at the end of the first quarter.
The teams exchanged goals in the second and the score remained deadlocked at 4-4 until Castillo found the back of the net during a six-on-five opportunity with just one second left to play in the half to give UCSB a 5-4 lead at the break.
The Gauchos stretched their lead 32 seconds into the third quarter when Golic tallied his second point of the day. UCSD posted back-to-back goals to tie the game again, this time at 6-6. Golic, Vincze and Ratko Paunovic teamed up for a three-goal run to regain the Gauchos’ advantage, 9-6. The teams again traded goals before the Tritons posted two straight, including a five-meter penalty shot, to cut UCSB’s lead to just one at 10-9 heading into the final quarter.
With 4:31 left to play, UCSD tied the game yet again at 10-10. Golic scored 1:21 later to put UCSB ahead, but exactly a minute later, the Tritons tied things up at 11-11. With just 21 seconds left on the clock, UCSD drew an ejection and with two seconds to play, Steven Donohoe scored grabbing the 12-11 victory for the Tritons.
UCSB will open at home Friday with a nonconference game with No. 10 UC Davis at 3 p.m. at Campus Pool.
UCSB 9, Pacific 6
1 2 3 4 Final
UCSB 1 3 2 3 9
Pacific 0 2 1 3 6
UCSB Goals: Miles Price 4, Sean Castillo 2, Zsombor Vincze 1, Milos Golic 1, Stefan Partelow 1
UCSB Goalie Saves: Michael Robinson 8
Pacific Goals: Shane Mahoney 2, William Milcovich 2, Tom Koning 1, Grant Hollis 1
UCSD 12, UCSB 11
1 2 3 4 Final
UCSB 3 2 5 1 11
UCSD 3 1 5 3 12
UCSB Goals: Zsombor Vincze 4, Milos Golic 4, Travis Watts 1, Sean Castillo 1, Ratko Paunovic 1
UCSB Goalie Saves: Fraser Bunn 9
UCSD Goals: Steven Donohoe 4, Adnan Jerkovic 3, Jeff Hunt 2, Chance Vermilyea 1, Daniel Garcia 1, A.J. Kotanijian 1
Lisa Skvarla is UCSB‘s assistant media relations director.