Behind Reed Cotterill’s second four-goal performance of the season, No. 7 UCSB (8-4) pulled out a tight 10-8 water polo road win at No. 8 Pepperdine on Thursday night.
The Gauchos are now 2-0 against the Waves this season.
Cotterill came through in the clutch for the Gauchos during a gritty second-half battle, in which the Gauchos took 6-5 to pull off the victory.
Shane Hauschild also came up big, recording a hat trick and dishing an assist.
As a team, the Gauchos drew eight exclusions on the Waves, as Samar Alkateb paced the team with four. Those proved to come in handy as UCSB capitalized on four of those opportunities, including two in the neck-and-neck second half.