The UC Santa Barbara Men’s Water Polo team announced its 2024 schedule, which features four regular-season tournaments and matchups with half of last year’s National Championship field.

The Gauchos will host 2023 NCAA Tournament participants Fordham as well as 2023 NCAA Semifinalists USC in their 2024 home slate.

All of Santa Barbara’s home contests are set to be held at Santa Barbara High School.
 
The Gauchos will begin their 2024 campaign at the Triton Invitational, hosted by UC San Diego, Sept. 7 and 8, followed by a mid-week trip to face Stanford on Sept. 12.

Their tournament tour continues Sept. 14 and 15, when they will travel to the Inland Empire Classic in Claremont and Redlands.

Santa Barbara will face Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and La Verne on the opening day in Claremont then take on Redlands and Pomona-Pitzer in Redlands the following day. The Gauchos set a program record for goals in a game at last year’s IE Classic.
 
They will face the team they set that mark against, Westcliff, on Sept. 19 in Malibu as part of a doubleheader day, with Santa Barbara also playing Pepperdine that Thursday.

Their matchup against the Waves will serve as a precursor to the first of two Big West-West Coast Conference tournaments on the schedule, set to take place on the campus of Loyola Marymount, Sept. 20 and 21.

The Gauchos will take on Cal State Fullerton on the opening day, then take on Pepperdine and LMU on the 21st.
 
Santa Barbara will remain in Los Angeles for a Friday evening matchup at UCLA on Sept. 27, then take on Cal Lutheran and Westcliff in Thousand Oaks on Sept. 28. The Gauchos start October in San Jose with a second Big West-WCC event.

Santa Barbara will take on San Jose State on Oct. 5 and Santa Clara Oct. 6 as part of that event, with both games in San Jose.
 
The Gauchos open Big West play afterward, traveling to Orange County for their first visit to Cal State Fullerton’s new Titan Aquatics Center, Oct. 12.

Santa Barbara will begin its home schedule against UC Davis on Oct. 19, then host 2023 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference champs Fordham for a first-ever meeting between the two sides on Oct. 22.
 
The Gauchos will go on their final regular season road trip to round out the month of October, traveling to defending Big West champion UC Irvine on Oct. 26 before visiting UC San Diego on Nov. 1.

Santa Barbara then rounds out the regular season at home, hosting Long Beach State on Nov. 9 and USC in the regular season finale on Nov. 10.
 
The Gauchos will head to Davis for the 2024 Big West Championship, Nov. 22-24. Santa Barbara finished as runners up in last season’s tournament.Â