Sept. 19, 2008
Stockton, Calif.- The Pacific men's water polo team dropped a tough loss to the No. 10 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos, 7-6, on Friday, September 19, at Chris Kjeldsen Pool. The loss moved the Tigers to 6-4 on the year, while UC Santa Barbara advanced to 4-2 on the season.
Playing at home for the first time this season, the Tigers were looking to avenge an earlier season loss to the Gauchos. The game started off rocky for Pacific, as UC Santa Barbara set the tone early with two quick scores within the first two minutes. After a quick timeout, the Tigers re-grouped and started to settle into their own.
The defense rose to the challenge and redshirt junior Grant Hollis (Redlands, Calif.) scored on a back-handed shot into the net, with 3:05 remaining in the quarter to bring the Tigers within one, trailing 2-1. The Gauchos scored once more before the end of the quarter to take a 3-1 lead going into the second period.
After giving up three goals on three shots in the first quarter, the Tigers' offense was determined to make a run at the lead, and that is exactly what they did. Santa Barbara scored early in the quarter to take a 4-1 lead, but the Tigers did not give up.
Over the next three minutes, Pacific scored three unanswered goals on three shots, by seniors William Milcovich (Walnut Creek, Calif.), and Shane Mahoney (Lodi, Calif.) as well as by freshman Tyler Reardon (Oak Park, Calif.). This rally took the teams into halftime with the score locked up in a 4-4 tie.
The second half began with momentum still on the Tigers' side. Pacific took a 5-4 lead :30 seconds into the quarter with a strike from sophomore Austin Delong (Houston, Texas). Not to be outdone, UC Santa Barbara answered back :22 seconds later with a goal from Brian Bishop, to tie things up at 5-5.
The third period ended with the score still tied, so it all came down to the fourth and final quarter. UC Santa Barbara struck first at the 7:13 point with a goal from Miles Price, his second of the night. The two teams struggled back and forth, battling hard on defense until again Delong found gold with a strong score in the cage, to tie the game at 6-6.
The Gauchos' Milos Golic completed his scoring outburst of three goals with a score at the 2:28 mark in the game to give UC Santa Barbara a 7-6 lead. With :17 left to play, trailing by one, Pacific needed to score to prolong the game. Milcovich had the ball on the left side, wound up, and let it fly. The ball hit the cage and bounced hard toward the net, but just barely missed the score to send the contest to overtime.
Time expired, and the Gauchos defeated the Tigers, 7-6 in a wire-to-wire battle.
Pacific was led by Delong with two goals, and senior Brian Domecus (Vallejo, Calif.) had six saves.
UC Santa Barbara was led by Golic, who scored three for the Gauchos.
The Tigers return to the pool Saturday, September 20 as they face UCLA in the first round of the 2008 NorCal Tournament. Game time is 10:40 am at Chris Kjeldsen Pool.
