LOS ANGELES — The No. 14 UC Santa Barbara Men’s Water Polo team heads to the home of the reigning National Champions on Saturday, where they will measure themselves not only against the best of the best, but also against one of their neighbors in the most recent national rankings. The Gauchos will open Saturday’s action by taking on hosts and national No. 1 UCLA in the morning before playing No. 15 LMU in the afternoon.
LAST TIME OUT
Santa Barbara completed a 14-game gauntlet in 10 days with their home opener on Sunday, splitting the two-game set with a loss to No. 3 Stanford and a win over Cal Lutheran. Freshman phenom Luigi Canepa shone as he has done throughout the first two weeks of the season, scoring five times and assisting twice more against the Cardinal. The Serbian tallied 20 goals across four days for the Blue and Gold, and on Wednesday he collected The Big West Player of the Week honors. While Canepa leads the team and conference in goals and total points, he is far from the only option when the Gauchos need a goal.
Finn Genc is enjoying a resurgent start to 2026 after missing all of last season with an injury. The senior co-captain has already surpassed his 2024 goal total with 21 tallies this year. Santa Barbara’s other co-captain, Solvang native Landon Lassahn, is not far behind with 18 goals, and 2025 Big West Freshman of the Year Charlie Johnson has 16. Add in Tyler Roller and his 15 goals and the Gauchos have a handful of top-end scorers. Lassahn, Johnson and Roller also each have enough assists to be tied with each other on 20 total points so far this season. Genc has 30 points, while Canepa has 44.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
No. 15 LMU has had two weeks off since it opened its season at the UC Irvine Invitational. The Lions went 4-0 on opening weekend, winning both of its games against Division-I opposition. They handled Cal State Fullerton comfortably, 15-5, but struggled to pull away from George Washington in a 15-12 win. LMU will face UCLA immediately before playing the Gauchos on Saturday.
With neither of their All-Americans from 2025 returning for 2026, the Lions have looked to Brazilian Eduardo Carraresi and former Gaucho Nico Furneaux to lead their team through four games. Carraresi and Furneaux combined for eight of LMU’s 15 goals against George Washington and together assisted five more.
No. 1 UCLA has begun its national title defense with five straight wins, but while the Bruins have not lost, they have looked human at times. Against then-No. 10 Pacific in Stockton, UCLA had the Tigers at less than an arm’s length, with the hosts getting within a goal of the reigning National Champions on multiple occasions. The Bruins will take on UC Irvine in Irvine on Friday before opening Saturday’s action against the Gauchos.
UCLA is led by two-time Peter J. Cutino Award and ACWPC Player of the Year winner Ryder Dodd, who is one of four returning All-Americans for the Bruins. Last year’s NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player Federico Jucá Carsalade returns after a First Team All-America season in 2025, and Ben Liechty was an All-American Second Team honoree. Peter Castillo also earned All-America Honorable Mention last season.
FOLLOW ALONG
Both of Saturday’s games will take place at UCLA’s Spieker Aquatics Center, with the Gauchos taking on the hosting Bruins at 10 a.m. and LMU at 2:30 p.m. Both games will be live streamed on overnght.com.
