The No. 15 UC Santa Barbara Men’s Water Polo team was both the windshield and the bug on Sunday, starting their final day at the 2026 Triton Invitational by hanging 27 goals on Mercyhurst but ending it by wearing 27 goals from No. 2 USC. 

Dylan Morris was the bug-splatterer-in-chief in game one, scoring five of Santa Barbara’s goals, though Tyler Roller, Sean Keane and Kyle Franks also each had hat-tricks in the 27-6 rout of the Lakers.

Roller and Keane also scored against the Trojans, joined by Camren Simoncelli, Noah Loo and Dash D’Ambrosia as Gauchos to score in both games on the day. Finn Genc also had a hat-trick in the afternoon’s 27-10 defeat.

UCSB 27, Mercyhurst 6

The Gauchos led from wire to wire in the morning match, shutting out the Lakers in the first quarter en route to a dominant 21-point victory.

They were helped by a number of early penalties, with Franks scoring the opener from a five-meter shot and Roller starting his scoring with a five-meter goal of his own. Seans Keane and O’Brien each scored in the opening frame, as did Charlie Johnson.
 
Morris got his first of the day to keep the momentum rolling into the second quarter, and Preston Bouch made it 7-0 Gauchos inside the first minute of the second frame.

The Lakers finally got on the board with six and a half minutes before the interval, the only time that they managed to beat Haakon Lacy, as he made seven saves over his half of action in the Santa Barbara goal.

Morris provided a swift response, then Keane tallied his second of the game. D’Ambrosia got two goals in the final two and a half minutes of the quarter, and Roller wrapped up his hat-trick before halftime. At the break, Santa Barbara led, 13-1.
 
Mercyhurst scored the first and last goals of the third quarter, but between those two tallies the Gauchos put up another eight. Simoncelli finally got on the scoresheet after missing an earlier penalty shot, then Morris, Loo and Keane converted three straight five-meter shots, wrapping up hat-tricks for both Morris and Keane.

O’Brien tallied his second, then Franks did the same, then Johnson. Finally, Morris brought his total up to four, and the score was 21-3 Gauchos entering the final frame.

In that final quarter, Oliver Sherwood added his name to the scoresheet (twice), and Landon Lassahn chipped in one. Franks finished his hat-trick, and Loo tallied his second of the game while Morris completed his five-goal haul.

USC 27, UCSB 10

Against the Trojans, the Gauchos had some good moments, but self-inflicted errors proved too costly for Santa Barbara to threaten USC.

After the Trojans scored first, Luigi Canepa showed he was ready to go toe-to-toe with another top five team, scoring an equalizer for the Gauchos. But the Trojans got three goals in a row and would remain ahead from that point on, despite Genc cutting the deficit to two.

Genc was involved in Santa Barbara’s best sequence of the game in the second quarter, kicking off a three-goal run that pulled the Gauchos within two goals again. Roller and Simoncelli provided the other two goals in that run, continuing their good days.

Santa Barbara found another groove in the third, with Landon Lassahn scoring the first goal of that quarter and tallies from Noah Loo and Genc letting the Gauchos trade goals with the Trojans for a spell. But the USC lead kept growing ever larger, meaning fourth-quarter scores from D’Ambrosia and Keane were nothing more than consolation.

Santa Barbara continues its early season gauntlet with eight games in four days next week, beginning with a twin bill in Malibu on Thursday, Sept. 3. The Gauchos will take on Biola at 2:30 p.m. and No. 8 Pepperdine at 5 p.m. from Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool.

After a two-day stop in Claremont, Santa Barbara will host its first home matches of the season on Sunday, Sept. 6 against No. 3 Stanford and Cal Lutheran at Santa Barbara High School.