IRVINE, Calif. — The No. 8 UC Davis men's water polo team notched two wins on Saturday at Anteater Aquatics Complex to start the first annual Big West-West Coast Conference Clash, both 15-12 results against No. 15 San Jose State and No. 12 UC Santa Barbara.
"Overall, we played better than last weekend," Coach Dan Leyson said about his squad. The Aggies entered today's contests following a three-game losing streak to finish out last weekend's MPSF Invitational.
"We were substantially more active in the attack and it showed. We were more focused defensively as well, but we still had some lapses that we need to clean up in all facets of the game."
UC Davis jumped out to a 3-0 lead to start out the day against San Jose State and maintained the three goal advantage into the quarter break, leading 7-4. Four Aggie goals in the second pushed the lead out another three goals at the half, and while the Spartans put in the first two scores of the second half, UC Davis maintained control of the game to the final buzzer. The Aggies' largest lead of the game was seven, coming after a William Fosselman goal increased the lead to seven just over a minute into the final frame.
It was a big game for Logan Anderson, who finished with a hat trick, two assists and two steals. Will Nomura was dominant inside, drawing seven exclusions to go along with a goal and two assists. Max Stryker had two goals and four assists, while Aaron Voggenthaler and Holden Neach each scored twice.
Both sides traded goals to open the evening clash, with the Aggies falling behind 2-1 before rallying to close out the period up a score, 4-3.
The Gauchos evened the score at five midway through the second quarter, and closed the first half down just one, 7-6.
JT Kujawa, Aleix Aznar Beltran and Logan Anderson rattled off the first three goals of the second half to build out a multi-goal cushion the Aggies never gave back, with both sides trading goals through to the end.
Beltran led the way offensively, with four goals and three assists, while Anderson chipped in a pair of goals and assists.
Aaron Wilson had 32 saves on the day, 18 against San Jose State and 14 against UC Santa Barbara. The All-American has now logged double-digit saves in four of the last five games.
Next up, the Aggies square off against No. 11 UC San Diego at 8:00 a.m. A win secures a spot in the tournament championship game at 3:15 p.m.
