Coach Wolf Wigo was delighted with his team’s Sunday performance, saying UC Santa Barbara’s two men’s water polo wins were its best games of the Inland Empire Classic.
The Gauchos (6-3) scored 17 goals in each game, taking down Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 17-6, and Cal Lutheran, 17-7. Both the Stags and Kingsmen rank among the top five Division-III Water Polo programs in the country.
On Saturday, the Gauchos poured in 81 goals in three games, routing Westcliff 34-2, Biola 17-12 and Austin College 30-7.
“CMS really gave some top-10 teams a lot of problems last week and I was really impressed how the team performed against them. We are in a good place to build and have a strong next couple weeks of games.”
San Marcos alum James Oriskovich became the sixth different Gaucho to score before halftime, giving his team an 8-3 lead at the break against CMS.
A six-goal Santa Barbara run in the second half put the game on ice. Dash McFarland keyed that run, scoring his third, fourth and fifth goals of the game. Adam Gyenis and Brock Zamanian also finished their hat-tricks in that span.
Against Cal Lutheran, Billy Rankin broke a 3-3 tie, then Gyenis beat the buzzer to put Santa Barbara up two after the first period.
Cal Lutheran were still within three at halftime, but the Gauchos held them to only two goals in the second half and pulled away. McFarland scored three goals in one minute and 10 seconds as part of a 6-0 scoring run, and Finn Genc finished off his hat trick in the final three minutes to put the icing on the cake.
Next on the schedule for UCSB is a trip to Malibu on Thursday, where they will play Westcliff and No. 8 Pepperdine. Start times are set for noon and 5 p.m., respectively.