LA JOLLA, Calif. - Despite its steady offensive play, the No. 11 UC San Diego men's water polo team was defeated, 18-10, by No. 5 UC Santa Barbara Saturday on the road at Campus Pool.

The Tritons averaged two goals for the first two quarters, but had to make up ground after the Gauchos opened the game with three unanswered scores.

"A bit of a rough way to start the season," said UCSD head coach Denny Harper. "UC Santa Barbara is arguably a difficult place to win, but I do think we will recover quickly and play better water polo."

Brian Donohoe scored the first goal for UCSD after earning a six-on-five play on the exclusion of Teddy Zhang. Josh Stiling posted the first goal of the second, but the Gauchos went on another run to take an 8-4 lead into halftime.

The third quarter came with a surge of scoring from both teams, with a combined total of 10 goals. UCSB opened the quarter similar to the start of the game by scoring back-to-back unanswered goals and eventually outscoring the Tritons 7-3.

Stiling led the Tritons with four goals while six others had one apiece. Cameron Ravanbach made five saves in net and Nick Michels had one.

For the Gauchos, Evan Dellinger found the net five times and Matt Gronow scored four goals. Myles Christian recorded 12 saves and Chris Witelegge had three.

UC San Diego will look to bounce back next weekend when the Tritons participate in the Norcal Tournament, hosted by Stanford, Sept. 15-16.

UC San Diego Goals: Josh Stiling 4, John Butler, Joe Dietrich, Lance Curtiss, Matthew Michalko, Brian Donohoe, David Higginson.
UC San Diego Saves: Cameron Ravanbach 5, Nick Michels 1.

UC Santa Barbara Goals: Evan Dellinger 5, Matt Gronow 4, Bryan Snyder 2, Brian Shoemaker, Teddy Zhang, Brendan McElroy, Ryan Baliani, Nick Tomasello, Nicholas Jordan, Eric Van de Mortel.
UC Santa Barbara Saves: Myles Christian 12, Chris Witelegge 3.