Oct. 23, 2004

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Three different Gauchos scored one goal in a 7-3 loss to No. 3 USC in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play on Saturday at McDonalds Swim Stadium in Los Angeles, Calif. USC's Thomas Hale led all scorers with two goals in the match.

The Gaucho loss marks the second time this season that USC has broken a UC Santa Barbara win streak, this time a streak of five games. The Trojans snapped the previous streak (six games) at the Southern California Water Polo Tournament.

USC jumped out to an early lead over the Gauchos after the first quarter by scoring once and allowing no Gaucho goals. In the second quarter, the Gauchos got on the board and scored two goals. USC managed to score one goal of its own in the second quarter, leaving the halftime score knotted at two.

In the third quarter, the Trojans ran away with the match by scoring three goals and only giving up one in return to make the score 5-3 as the quarter expired. The one third quarter goal for the Gauchos would be their last of the match. USC on the other hand was able to post two more goals in the fourth quarter to give itself the 7-3 victory.

With the loss, the Gauchos fall to 16-6 overall, 2-1 in the MPSF. The Gauchos return to action on Sunday when they visit Loyola Marymount in a non-conference match. The Gauchos defeated the Lions 6-5 in a match up on September 18 earlier this season.

Team                 1     2     3     4     Total
UC Santa Barbara     0     2     1     0       3
USC                  1     1     3     2       7
Scoring
UC Santa Barbara Goals: Robbie Bauer-1, Brian Alexander-1,
Andrew Schoneberger-1
USC Goals: Thomas Hale-2, Ted Zepfel-1, Juan Delgadillo-1,
Juraj Zatovic-1, Jordan Van Norman-1, Trevor Clark-1
Goalie Saves
UC Santa Barbara: Jon Bonafede-4
USC: Don Ricci-9