FULLERTON, Calif. — The No. 8 UC Santa Barbara Men’s Water Polo team ended its regular season on a high note Sunday, securing its 22nd win of the season and clinching a share of The Big West Regular Season Championship by defeating Cal State Fullerton, 10-7.

With a 4-1 record in conference play, the Gauchos finished tied atop the table with California Baptist, the Lancers being the only squad to beat Santa Barbara in a conference game this year.

While the Gauchos will end up with the no. 2 seed for The Big West Championship later this month, they nevertheless get their hands on a first Big West Championship since 1990.

As with Santa Barbara’s other three conference wins, Sunday’s game was defined by defense. The Gauchos held the Titans to just one goal in the first half, helped by another strong day from Wyatt Pieretti in goal; he had more saves than goals allowed on the day.

That staunch resistance also gave Santa Barbara time to find its groove, as Charlie Johnson scored the Gauchos’ only goal of the first quarter, answered by the Titans’ only score of the first half.
 
Finally, late in the second quarter, Santa Barbara found its breakthrough, thanks to none other than their Serbian star, Luigi Canepa. He punished the Titans for some overly physical defense, scoring on a six-on-five powerplay, then from a five-meter penalty shot less than a minute later.

Camren Simoncelli put home an important goal just before the halftime buzzer too, and it was 4-1 Gauchos at the break.
 
Santa Barbara maintained that three-goal advantage for the entire second half, matching two Titan goals with two of their own in the third quarter, then scoring four to answer their hosts’ four in the fourth.

Dash D’Ambrosia and Simoncelli did the scoring in the third, and Johnson and Landon Lassahn both scored inside the first minute of the fourth to extend the Gauchos’ lead momentarily to five.

Canepa finished his hat-trick later in the fourth, then Haakon Lacy took over goalkeeping duties and scored his first career goal with 16 seconds left in the game. After Finn Byrne’s score against Occidental in late September and Pieretti’s goal against Long Beach State in October, all three of UC Santa Barbara’s goalies now have a goal on their resumes.

Santa Barbara now has nearly two weeks to prepare for its next match, which will be a Big West Semifinal on the campus of Long Beach State on Nov. 21. The full tournament bracket and details will be released next week.