Center Dash McFarland continued his stellar start to the season for UC Santa Barbara Men’s Water Polo (7-5) against No. 3 USC (6-1) on Saturday, scoring three goals against the Trojans to bring his total on the season to a career-high 40.
McFarland’s hat trick was not enough, however, and the No. 11 Gauchos fell, 16-8.
“It was similar to the Pepperdine game where we had some bright spots and again were in a position to make a run but missed a few key plays,” UCSB head coach Wolf Wigo said. “We have to keep learning from the matches we have had and improve as fast as we can.”
The Gauchos got off to a slow start, which would ultimately be their undoing. McFarland scored the team’s only two goals of the first half, once early in the first quarter and again just a minute before halftime.
Between those two goals, the Trojans scored seven and led, 8-2, at the break.
UC Santa Barbara’s offense picked up on the other side of the break, with Logan Sutter scoring the first goal of the second half. The Gauchos out-scored the Trojans in the third quarter, cutting the lead to five.
Santa Barbara scored three more goals in the fourth, with McFarland completing his hat-trick, but USC scored six in the quarter to pull away.
The Gauchos return to Santa Barbara on Sunday when they will take on No. 6 Stanford.
Sunday’s game has been moved to Santa Barbara High School. Due to this change in venue, fans can only catch the game by watching live on ESPN+ and by following the live stats available on ucsbgauchos.com.