THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Cal Lutheran men's water polo (1-4, 0-0 SCIAC) hosted UC Santa Barbara in its home opener on Friday afternoon, with 37 combined goals being scored between the two teams. The Kingsmen held an early lead, but the talented Gauchos were too much to handle as Cal Lutheran lost 24-13.

Paul Patterson opened the scoring with an early goal less than a minute into the game. UCSB tied it up quickly before Levi Cook found the bag of the cage to give the Kingsmen a 2-1 advantage with six minutes remaining in the first period.

UCSB (9-5, 0-0 Big West) controlled the rest of the opening quarter with eight unanswered scores to take a 9-2 lead.

Cal Lutheran converted the first goal of the second quarter as Jack Bradbury torched the net. In the last three minutes of the first half, Merrick Giles hit paydirt twice and Cook managed another score. UCSB remained strong on offense throughout the period and took a 15-6 lead into the break.

Brody Swarm got on the scoreboard midway through the third before Cook punched in his third goal of the game. Adam Scrivner joined the party with under two minutes in the period, and Kingsmen found themselves down 21-9 heading into the final quarter.

Cal Lutheran was able to control the pace in the fourth, outscoring the Gauchos 4-3. Ethan Guereca, Nic Mastropoalo, Dylan Villanueva, and Luke Chang each added goals to cut the deficit to 24-13 as the clock struck zeroes.

Freshman Ceasar Nava made his presence felt with a team-high three assists while Cook dropped in two assists to go with his hat trick.

Bo DuBois manned the cage for Cal Lutheran in the first half, providing four saves. Jaeger Gonzales relieved him coming out of the half, allowing just nine goals and saving five shots.

The Kingsmen will be visited by a familiar foe next week, as Biola will come to Thousand Oaks for a 3pm match next Friday, September 19. Cal Lutheran defeated the Eagles 13-9 in the Inland Empire Tourney last weekend.