STOCKTON, Calif. - The men's water polo team claimed a 14-8 Senior Day victory over San Jose State on Saturday afternoon. 

The Tigers repeat as back-to-back GCC regular season champions with their win on Saturday, improving to an overall record of 11-10, 4-1 in conference. San Jose State drops to 6-17 overall and 0-5 in the Golden Coast.

"I'm proud of the way our team fought today and finished out the regular season, Head Coach James Graham stated. "This is a special moment for us taking our second GCC title and we're hoping to build on this momentum heading into the tournament."

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In Case You Missed It:

• Pacific assembled a strong push heading into halftime and came hot out the gates in the third period as they tallied nine of their 14 total goals during those two frames. Luke Pavillard led the charge for his team during those two quarters scoring four of his five goals.
• The Tigers created multiple opportunities for themselves on goal outshooting the Spartans, 43-20, and shooting an efficient .500 on powerplay drives converting 4-8 attempts. 
• UOP was not afraid to put the pressure on SJSU forcing the Spartans to 20 turnovers in the match, 15 steals and five shot clock violations. The Tigers committed just one turnover throughout the game. 

First Period:

• Fellow senior Lucas Hastie started Senior Day off to a good note for the Tigers scoring the first goal of the match at the 6:14 mark. 
• After a 2-0 run by the Spartans, Luke Pavillard (1:26) got Pacific back on track knocking in the equalizer off an assist by Luis Araya.
• An exclusion by Andrea De Nardi gave San Jose a good chance to score with a 5M penalty but keeper John Hedges stretched out for the save to keep the Spartans at bay. The sophomore would go on to make a steal to end the period and keep the score tied at 2-2.

Second Period:

• Andrea De Nardi would open the second period with a 7:23 goal for the Tigers. Both of the juniors' two goals were tallied in the second quarter. 
• UOP would score two more off a laser shot by Pavillard (5:01) and floater from De Nardi (4:09) assembling a 3-0 run and grab some breathing room, now up 5-2.
• An additional goal by Pavillard (3:00) would signal his third of the match for the hat trick. Pavillard now has 15 matches with three goals or more this season.
• Pacific would outscore SJSU, 4-2, in the period to head into halftime up by a pair of scores, 6-4.

Third Period:

• The Tigers would dominate heading out of the break. Pacific registered a team-high five goals in the third holding San Jose State scoreless in the third period.
• Four different Tigers found the back of the net during the 8:00 minute frame including Eli Lule, who led the charge with two goals at the 7:17 and 2:46 mark. 
• The Tigers shared the wealth in the period recording three goals on their five goals. Three of their five assists on the day were tallied in the third frame.
• Pacific forced eight turnovers for the Spartans in the third. 

Fourth Period:

• Pacific continued to cruise in the final period. Pavillard tallied his fifth of the day to open up the quarter at the 7:22 mark. 
• The Tigers would take advantage of a Spartan exclusion and Luis Araya would find his way for his second goal of the match with 4:35 to go. 
• After drawing an exclusion, Ege Colak (3:44) would sneak a ball past SJSU's keeper for a go-ahead powerplay goal to put the Tigers out of reach. 

Notables:

• Luke Pavillard impaced both ends of the pool for the Tigers. The junior collected five goals of 5-11 shooting and tallied one assist, one field block, and three steals on the day.
• Araya adds to his streak of 12 consecutive matches with a goal scored with a pair of goals today. Araya now has 38 on the year and 101 for his career.
• Andrea De Nardi clinched a career-high six steals in the match for the Tigers. His previous career-high was set as a freshman against Cal Baptist with five steals. 

Building A Legacy:

• Since joining the Golden Coast Conference in 2016, the Tigers have earned a record of 13-2. Pacific is 5-2 at home during GCC play. 
• The Tigers only two losses have come against UCSB and Long Beach State. 
• The Orange and Black to repeat as GCC Tournament champions, clinching their first-ever Golden Coast Championship in program history last season with a 9-5 victory over UC Irvine.

Up Next For the Tigers:

• The Tigers travel up north to Davis, Calif. tomorrow as they end the regulars season with a nonconference match against No. 10 UC Davis.
• The Aggies are 15-7 overall, coming off a weekend split against LMU and UC San Diego. 
• The match is set for 1:00 PM at Schaal Aquatics Center. Live stream of the match can be found here.