The UC Santa Barbara Men’s Water Polo team started its 2026 campaign on the right foot Friday, winning both of their opening matches at the Triton Invitational.

The Gauchos made a thrilling comeback to knock off No. 20 Saint Mary’s in what was the Gaels’ first-ever match, 16-14, with freshman Luigi Canepa scoring eight goals in his collegiate debut.

The evening match was a much more straightforward affair, as eight different Gauchos put up multi-goal efforts in a 25-11 win over McKendree.

UCSB 16, Saint Mary’s 14

The Gauchos and Gaels delivered high drama to raise the curtain on their 2026 seasons, with Santa Barbara manufacturing a come-from-behind victory to spoil Saint Mary’s’ inaugural match.

It was whistles abound early, with four five-meter penalty shots awarded in the opening two minutes, two for each team. Finn Genc converted both of his for the Gauchos, but Wyatt Pieretti made a crucial stop to give Santa Barbara an early 2-1 lead.

The Gaels flipped things and led, 4-2, in the final minute, when Canepa scored his first career goal to bring his squad within one.
 
There was much more clawing back to be done in the second quarter, with Saint Mary’s taking an 8-3 lead with 4:36 remaining before halftime. That was Canepa’s queue.

The Serbian scored three goals in two minutes, then Landon Lassahn chipped in to get back within one. The final minute of the half saw four goals, two from each team, and the Gauchos entered halftime down just one goal, 10-9.
 
The interval did not cool Canepa’s hand, as the Serbian fired home the first two goals of the second half to give Santa Barbara the lead. Pieretti was brilliant in the Gaucho goal too, holding the Gaels to just one goal in the entire third quarter, including a second penalty save of the game. With Genc adding another goal, Santa Barbara entered the final frame with a one-goal advantage.
 
Saint Mary’s leveled the scores but never led in the last eight minutes, with two goals from Lassahn and two from Canepa propelling Santa Barbara to their two-goal victory.

UCSB 25, McKendree 11

The first quarter of game two teased more drama, with the sides tied at five after the first eight minutes of action, but the Gauchos put their superior depth and quality to work to pull away for a comfortable win over the final three quarters of play.
 
Camren Simoncelli, Sean O’Brien, Kyle Franks and Sean Keane scored consecutively to start the second quarter, and the Gaucho defense buckled down to hold the Bearcats to just two goals in that second frame. Thanks to a late goal from Hayden Tully, the Gauchos carried a 10-7 lead into halftime.
 
The third quarter was when Santa Barbara really pulled away, out-scoring McKendree 9-1 in the frame. They did it with seven different scorers: Genc, Canepa, Simoncelli, Sloan Brown (twice), O’Brien, Charlie Johnson (twice) and Tyler Roller.

Simoncelli and Roller wrapped up their hat-tricks to start the fourth quarter, with Oliver Sherwood tallying a pair of goals himself in the final eight minutes. It helped that Finn Byrne saved a pair of five-meter penalty shots in the fourth quarter as well, though the latter did result in a rebound put home for a goal.

The last 60-plus ticks of the clock provided some back-and-forth entertainment — but no threat to the scoreline — as each team scored twice in that span.

Simoncelli would have thought he got the last laugh, scoring his fourth goal of the game with 15 seconds left, but McKendree hammered one down off the crossbar as the buzzer sounded. Still, the Gauchos had their 14-goal win.

Santa Barbara returns to the Canyonview Aquatic Center for two more games on Saturday, starting with a 10:30 a.m. matchup with No. 4 Cal. They will then finish the day against Occidental at 4 p.m. Both matches will be streamed live on overnght.com.