LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Pacific men's water polo team concluded its exceptional weekend with an upset victory over top-ranked UC Santa Barbara Sunday afternoon en route to a third place finish at the ULCA/Loyola Marymount-hosted SoCal Invitational.

The win over the Gauchos marked just the second time in head coach James Graham's tenure that the Tigers have defeated a No. 1-ranked squad. The only other squad to earn the feat was Pacific's 2013 squad when it earned a 10-6 victory at home against the-then national leader USC. 

 

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

• Pacific improves to 9-1 on the season with four wins in games against a top-five opponent. 
• Over the past 48-hours the Tigers faced three of the nation's top-five opponents, defeating both No. 5 USC and No. 1 UCSB, while only falling to No. 3 Stanford by narrow margin (14-13).
• The Tigers schedule will remain tough in the coming weeks as they are scheduled for rematches with Stanford (Oct. 6) and USC (Oct. 12) before traveling South again for matches against UCLA and Golden Coast Conference counterpart UC Santa Barbara.
  
   

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

• Pacific compiled a match-high .333, while holding UCSB to just a .313 shooting percentage.
• Both teams cashed in on five powerplays, the Tigers scoring on five of 13 powerplays.
• Cote and Colak were outstanding, each scoring four goals on the day, while Hosmer scored on three of his eight shots. 
• Jon Barry held the edge in saves, 11-10 and collected a steal.
   

First Period

• The Tigers were out to a quick lead, after an unassisted goal by freshman Matthew Hosmer put the Tigers up 1-0 within the first 25 seconds of play.
• Consecutive turnovers and an exclusion by UCSB's Jacob Halle resulted in another Pacific goal (2-0) off the throw of Engin Age Colak.
• Nearly five minutes later, following five shot attempts, the Gauchos were able to put a goal on the board. Just 10 seconds later, Andre De Nardi extended the Tigers lead back to two goals. Eli Lule had the assist. 
• Both squads each had two more shot attempts, but the Tigers held on for the 3-1 lead.
   

Second Period

• Luke Pavillard won the sprint for the second straight period, but a missed shot by Pacific held the score at 3-1. 
• Jeremie Cote scored the first goal of the period on a power play at 6:26.
• Less than a minute went by before UCSB struck twice, minimizing the Tigers lead to one (4-3). 
• UCSB out-shot Pacific 3-2 before a Gauchos exclusion led to another Colak goal (5-3). 
• The Gauchos would put pressure on the Tigers, but would not surpass them in the second period. 
• Pacific closed out the first half with a 6-5 lead.
   

Third Period

• Hosmer won the sprint to open second half play. The possession resulted in a Jeremie Cote goal at 7:41 (9-7).
• Goals were few and far between with eight combined shots taken before either team was able to score another goal until a UCSB misconduct foul gave the Tigers a penalty shot at the 3:59 mark. Cote made his penalty shot to give the Tigers their largest lead of the game (8-5). 
• UCSB scored its only two gals of the period at 3:23 and 2:40, both on powerplays.
• With just under two minutes left to play, Cote connected for his third and the Tigers final goal of the period (9-7). 
• Defense was key on both ends of the pool as the period ended with back-to-back saves by UCSB's Danny Roland and Pacific's Jon Barry. 
   

Fourth Period

• Pacific took the first shot to open the fourth off the toss of Hosmer. 
• Following a missed shot by the Tigers, UCSB scored its eighth goal of the game.
• The remainder of the scoring took place in the final 3 minutes and 30 seconds, beginning with a Tigers goal at 3:22 (10-8). 
• Nearly one minute later, the Gauchos began a two-goal run that diminished the Tigers lead, tying the game up at 10-10 with goals at 2:31 and 1:22. 
• Colak put the finishing touches on the upset victory with an unassisted goal at 1:04. 
  
   

ON THE WEEKEND
Four names stand out significantly when looking at the offensive effort by the Tigers this weekend ..

Luke Pavillard – 13 goals, 6 assists, 5 steals
Jeremie Cote – 13 goals, 7 assists, 3 steals
Engin Ege Colak – 11 goals, 3 assists, 2 steals
Matthew Hosmer – 11 goals, 2 assists, 1 steal

Defensively, Jon Barry claimed four victories in the net, collecting 39 saves.

 

WHAT COACH GRAHAM SAID

"This was an amazing weekend and we are only going to get better. It was a great team effort with some incredible individual plays."

"We are very proud of our start, but we have a lot of season to go and we need to continue to get better if we want to contend for the NCAA Championship in November and December."

 

UP NEXT
The Tigers return home for three consecutive matches, with the first two schedule for next weekend. Pacific will host UC Davis on Friday, Oct. 4 before welcoming now-ranked No. 3 Stanford on Sunday, Oct. 6. Video and live stats links can be found at pacifictigers.com.