The post and the crossbar got in the way of UCSB’s celebration on Sunday as No. 5 USC avenged an earlier men’s water polo loss to the fourth-ranked Gauchos by pulling out a 10-9 victory in front of a sell-out crowd at Campus Pool.
The Gauchos honored their 1979 team in a pregame ceremony on the 40th anniversary of the school’s first NCAA championship.
UCSB beat the top-ranked Trojans 13-9 on Sept. 15 on the way to a school-record 15-0 start that also included a win over then-No. 1 Stanford. The Gauchos suffered their third straight one-goal defeat on Sunday
The Gauchos (15-3) hit the post five times, including the left and right posts on the same shot by Leo Yuno in the second quarter.
The Trojans (8-2) took a 4-2 lead after one quarter on Marin Dasic’s power-play score with 52 seconds left.
The score was tied 5-5 at halftime and 8-8 after three quarters. Yuno tied it up 9-9 on a sharp angle shot after a nice cross-pool pass by Cole Brosnan at 7:11 of the final quarter.
Jake Ehrhardt pumped in the game-winner with 6:48 to play, slipping a shot past the goalie from an ultra-sharp angle about 12 feet to the left of the goal.
Ivan Gvozdanovic, a 6-1 senior from Serbia, led the Gauchos with four goals and three steals. Jacob Halle added two goals.
Danny Roland, a sophomore transfer from UCLA, was stout in goal with 10 saves, including a block on a 5-meter penalty shot by Hannes Daube with three seconds left in the first quarter.
“We had great energy all-around,” said Roland, who played with a broken pinkie finger. “We got a couple of shot blocks late in the third and when we’re all playing well, it boosts my energy and my energy boosts them. It’s kind of a ripple effect.
“I’m very confident that we’ll bounce back. Those are three great teams we just played and they were all one-goal games that were winnable. Their shots went in today and we had multiple bar-outs.”
UCSB scored three straight to open the second quarter and took its first lead, 5-4. Halle scored at 6:09 and Sam Nangle, a 6-4 sophomore from Australia, cashed in a breakaway at 4:53. The Gauchos went ahead 5-4 when Gvozdanovic took a pass from Colton Gregory and scored from seven meters.
“We stuck to our plan and were patient on offense,” said UCSB’s 15th-year coach Wolf Wigo. “We didn’t give them any cheap opportunities. They had to earn a lot of their goals and they made some nice shots.
“It’s not fun to lose a one-goal game but we’re not going to be discouraged. We’re playing very consistent against the top teams in the country.”
Roland had a couple of spectacular one-armed saves in the third period. The Gauchos went up 6-5 and 8-7 on goals by Gvozdanovic before Sam Slobodien put in a rebound with 1:04 to go.
After Ehrhardt scored to put USC ahead 10-9 with 6:48 to play, the Gauchos missed their last 11 shots with Nic Porter blocking six of them.
“This was a great matchup with great intensity between two good teams,” said USC coach Marko Pintaric. “This is what water polo is all about. Defense made the difference today. Step-by-step we’re starting to play better defense. We’re still not there but we’re doing a better job of challenging shots and giving our opponent a little less time to have an open eye on the cage.”
The Gauchos will have revenge on their minds when they travel to No. 2 UCLA for a rare night game on Friday at 7 p.m. The Bruins handed UCSB its first loss this year, 9-8, on Sept. 28.