LA JOLLA, Calif. - The 11th-ranked UC San Diego men's water polo team (9-9) hosts No. 8 UC Santa Barbara (8-6) on Friday night at the Coggan Family Aquatic Center. First sprint is set for 6:00 p.m. The Tritons and Gauchos met in the first game of the season at the Triton Invitational, a 15-12 UCSB win. In that match-up, Steven Donohoe netted seven goals while Ian Bausback scored twice. Last week the Tritons defeated two ranked opponents at the UC Irvine Invitational while the Gauchos went 1-3 at the same tourney.

Last week at the UCI Invite, UC Santa Barbara defeated UC Davis 7-5, then lost to USC 17-3, Long Beach State 10-9 and Loyola Marymount 10-9 in overtime.

The Gauchos have two wins over Pepperdine and a win over Concordia this season. UCSB is led by Milos Golic with 20 goals this season while Noah Smith has scored 18 goals and Stefan Partelow has added 15 scores. Joe Plume, Sean Castillo and Golic are tied for the team lead with four assists each. Castillo has a team high eight steals.

In goal, Fraser Bunn has 73 saves to lead the Gauchos.

Last season the Tritons and Gauchos met three times with each meeting decided by one goal. The Tritons won two games by a 12-11 score, the second win coming in overtime. UCSB defeated UCSD once by a 10-9 score, that game also coming in overtime.

The Tritons are led by Steven Donohoe with 42 goals while Bryce Madsen has scored 24 times. Ryan Allred has scored 17 goals, scoring all goals in five games last week. Brian Donohoe leads the Tritons with 22 assists while Sean Cruz has added 18 assists.

David Morton has 186 saves this season.

After Friday night's match-up against UC Santa Barbara, the Tritons will host an alumni game on Saturday, October 17 at 11:00 a.m. The Tritons will hit the road for five consecutive games away from home, finishing out the month of October on the road. UCSD's next home date is set for Saturday, November 7 when it hosts Santa Clara at 12:00 p.m. on Senior Day.