Sept. 28, 2016

DAVIS, Calif. - Already well-seasoned from 13 September games, No. 11 UC Davis men's water polo has reached its second major stage of the 2016 season: conference play. This week, the 10-3 Aggies travel to Santa Clara for a Western Water Polo Association game on Saturday. Game time is noon from the Sullivan Aquatic Center.

UC Davis placed ninth at the Mountain Pacific Invitational at Cal last weekend, opening with a tough loss against then-No. 7 Long Beach State, then following with wins against SCU, Princeton and Pomona-Pitzer. The tournament generally reshapes the following week's national poll, since most of the top dozen schools are entered. As such, the Aggies moved into a tie for 10th in Wednesday's rankings. Head coach Daniel Leyson was generally pleased with the overall weekend. After all, his relatively young team has plenty of room to grow and yet could both challenge the likes of LBSU in the tournament opener. The Aggies led the 49ers throughout the first half before the MPSF power pulled away late in the contest. "I thought we played Long Beach tough," said Leyson. "We played well. We just had some unfortunate mistakes down the stretch, the type of which and time of which makes it difficult to win important games. There are crucial moments when a bad pass can cost you the game, and there are other moments where it doesn't necessarily cost you. We seemed to make a few of those, and Long Beach is an excellent team that made us pay for them. But to play them tough, when we still have so many areas where we can improve, is really encouraging." However, the Mountain Pacific Invite and the move into the Top 10 no longer appear on Leyson's radar. The Western Water Polo Association season is now the team's focus, as it will position the team in the season-ending tournament. Several of the conference members have already shown their capability â€" Cal Baptist and Air Force scored key upsets last weekend, while UC San Diego just edged Loyola Marymount in a midweek tilt a week ago. "We're really looking forward to start conference play, and we expect nothing but the best competition from our opponents," Leyson said. "Our result against Santa Clara has no bearing on this game. They will be ready for us, and they always play us tough at their pool. It will be a big challenge for us." Working in the Aggies' favor is the drop from four- and five-game weekends, which permeates the September slate, to having a single opponent on which to focus. Of course, this dynamic would also work to any opponent's advantage, but UC Davis also has tremendous depth. Twelve players have averaged double-digit playing time in the first 13 games, and eight have scored at least 10 goals. Different players have emerged at different times in the preseason, making Leyson's Aggies a match-up juggling act. Even last weekend in the Bay Area, 10 different players had at least one multi-goal game. Sophomore Ido Goldschmidt leading the scoring punch with 15 points (10 goals, five assists), with fellow second-year Sasa Antunovic right behind at 11 (eight goals, three dimes). Furthermore, sophomore Brock Gordon notched a career-high four goals in Saturday's morning win over SCU, then senior Tennyson May performed his first Aggie hat trick against No. 11 Princeton hours later. Against LBSU, it was true freshman Eric Martel and sophomore Marcus Anderson who led the scoring with two goals each. Santa Clara (5-7, 1-0) had a tough draw at the MP Invite, opening with host Cal and finishing with UC Irvine, the latter of whom were avenging upsets to Cal Baptist and Pomona-Pitzer sustained earlier in the week. Senior driver Graham MacClone leads the Broncos with 22 goals, 13 assists and 13 steals, with freshman utility Mac Carey has already established himself as one of the WWPA's rising stars with his 19 goals in 12 games. Despite some of the weapons on the SCU roster, Leyson's attention is ultimately on his own squad. "We just need to keep working to get better," said the fourth-year coach. "When we watch the tape, there are just so many areas where we can get better that we need to approach every workout and every game with that mentality. "We can win the three remaining games of the [Mountain Pacific] tournament by 12, four and eight goals, and yet feel like there's still so much we need to work on. I continue to feel good about our team but I also know that other teams are getting better as well. So we have to keep improving and keep progressing in the areas where we're focusing." SKIP SHOTS: Sophomore Ido Goldschmidt took over the team lead with 23 goals, thanks to 10 at last weekend's Mountain Pacific Invite... The Aggies' ninth-place finish matches that of the 2015, 2011 and 2007 teams: a first-round loss followed by three straight wins at what was once previously known as the NorCal Invite... Per records dating back to 1993, the program's best finish in the tournament was in 2006, when the then-No. 6 Aggies beat No. 8 Pepperdine then lost the next three games for eighth place... UC Davis has won the last 11 meetings against Santa Clara, a series streak that dates back to 2012... The previous Bronco win took place in a conference upset on October 9, 2011... SCU was No. 18 in that game, UC Davis was No. 10... In Wednesday's CWPA poll, the Aggies are tied for 10th while the Broncos are 20th.