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SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- The the final Men's Championships of the Golden Coast Confernece begin on Friday with a pair of first-round match-ups at UC Santa Barbara's Campus Pool. The winner of the three-day tournament earns the league's automatic bid to the 2022 National Collegiate Men's Water Polo Championships held in December.
GCC LINKS: 2022 Championships | 2022 Award Winners | 2022 Standings | 2022 Stats | 2022 Results
2022 GCC MEN'S CHAMPIONSHIPS
Tickets are on sale now for the 2022 Golden Coast Conference Men's Championships to be held Friday, Nov. 18 - Sunday, Nov. 20 at Campus Pool on the campus of UC Santa Barbara. Friday will feature the two first round games with No. 4 UC Irvine taking on No. 5 Pepperdine at 5 pm and No. 3 seed UC Santa Barbara taking on host and No. 6 seed San Jose State at 7 pm.
The top two seeds – No. 1 Pacific and No. 2 Long Beach State – earn a bye to the semifinals, which will be held Saturday at 5 and 7 pm. The championship game, with the winner earning the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, will be held Sunday at 2 pm. For more and information and to purchase tickets, visit our Tournament Central.
ROUND ONE MATCH-UPS
GAME 1: No. 4 UC Irvine (15-12, 2-3) vs. No. 5 Pepperdine (13-13, 2-3) - 5 PM
Watch Live | Live Stats
UC Irvine enters the GCC tournament ranked 13th nationally and is having a turn-around season under first-year Head Coach Dan Klatt. A five-game win streak, including three straight at the MPSF Invitational, saw UCI crack the top-10 in the national rankings. They finished tied with Pepperdine for fourth in the league standings and earned the fourth seed with the head-to-head win. GCC Newcomer of the Year Ethan Shipman leads the team in goals, ranking fifth in the GCC with 50, He is also sixth with 27 assists and sixth in total points with 77. He was also a second-team All-GCC selection and was joined in postseason honors by Tyler Padua, who was honorable mention. Jackson Matos was named to the GCC All-Freshman team.
Pepperdine concluded the regular season with a thrilling comeback win over UC Santa Barbara to put them in a tie with UC Irvine for fourth place,. They are the No. 5 seed and enter the tournament ranked ninth nationally. Dennis Blyashov leads the team into the tournament as a first-team All-GCC selection, scoring 49 goals with 36 assists. He is tied for sixth within the GCC in goals and third in assists. His 85 total points is tied for second. Freshman Adam Csapo was named second-team All-GCC and Nico Tierney was honorable mention. Csapo and Sandor Gal were named to the GCC All-Freshman team.
The teams met twice during the regular season with UC Irvine taking both meetings. UC Irvine took a 15-14 overtime win to take ninth place at the MPSF Invite on Sept. 25 and then earned the 12-10 win on Nov. 5 in GCC play.
GAME 2: No. 3 UC Santa Barbara (13-12, 3-2) vs. No. 6 San Jose State (10-15, 0-5) - 7 PM
Watch Live | Live Stats
UC Santa Barbara enters the GCC tournament ranked 10th nationally and had a three-game win streak, including a 14-13 overtime win over No. 5 Pacific, before falling in the regular season finale at Pepperdine. The host is led by senior Sam Nangle, who was named first-team All-GCC. He leads the league field blocks and the team in drawn ejections as he dominated in the middle all season. Joining him with postseason honors was Dash McFarland as a second-team All-GCC selection. Danny Roland and Ryan Brosnan were named honorable mention and Luke Redoutey was a GCC All-Freshman selection.
San Jose State enters the championships ranked 14th nationally. The Spartans had a five-game winning streak heading into November and despite holding early leads in the final GCC match-ups, couldn't find a victory in GCC play. Bende Pardi leads the team as a second-team All-GCC selection and is joined by Bence Szabo as a honorable mention honoree. Erik Duesund and Javi Ibanez were named GCC All-Freshmen.
The teams met twice on the season. The first meeting was on the opening weekend of the season as UCSB earned a 10-9 win in San Jose on Sept. 10. In conference play, UCSB earned another road win, this one 14-8 on Oct. 29.
THE TOP SEEDS
Pacific earned the top-seed in the tournament after winning a share of the regular season title, earning the tiebreaker over Long Beach State with their head-to-head win in GCC play. They enter the tournament ranked seventh and with one of the top offenses in the league thanks to four players ranking in top-10 in goals. They had three named first-team All-GCC, including Reuel D'Souza, Bogdan Djerkovic and goalie Bae Fountain. Jeremie Cote and Mihailo Vukazic was named second-team All-GCC, while Matthew Hosmer and Djordje Stanic were named honorable mention. Pacific will face the winner of game one (UC Irvine vs. Pepperdine) in the first semifinal on Saturday at 5 pm. The Tigers defeated both UC Irvine (Oct. 28) and Pepperdine (Oct. 15) by the score of 18-13.
Long Beach State earned a share of their second straight GCC regular season title and enter the tournament the No. 2 seed. Ranked sixth, the Beach is led by two-team GCC Player of the Year Rafael Real Vergara. He joins Pacific's Luke Pavillard (2017, 18, 19) as the leagues two-time winner of the top award. He leads the GCC in goals with 68 and total points with 88. He was joined as a first-team All-GCC selection by Garrett Zaan, who is tied for sixth in the GCC with 49 goals. Goalie Andrej Bosanac was named second-team All-GCC and Evan Cain was an honorable mention selection. Aleksandar Timotijevic was named GCC All-Freshman. The Beach will face the winner of game two (UC Santa Barbara vs. San Jose State) in the second semifinal on Saturday at 7 pm. The Beach defeated both UC Santa Barbara (Sept. 4, 12-11; Sept. 18, 13-10) and San Jose State (Sept. 23, 12-9; Nov. 5, 13-10) twice each in the regular season.
2022 SEASON RECAP
AWARD WINNERS
In the final season of men's water polo in the Golden Coast Conference, Long Beach State's Rafael Real Vergara was named the GCC Player of the Year for the second consecutive year, as the league announced its annual postseason honors for 2022 on Wednesday. All individual awards and the All-GCC teams were voted on solely by the Conference's six coaches. Joining him as an individual award winner is UC Irvine's Ethan Shipman, who was named Newcomer of the Year. Check out all the award winners here >>.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Pepperdine's Adam Csapo is the final GCC Men's Player of the Week thanks to leading the Waves to a 13-12 comeback win over #8 UC Santa Barbara to close out the regular season. Csapo had five goals and an assist, with three of his goals coming in the fourth quarter. The Waves trailed by as many as four goals in the third quarter, and it was 9-7 Gauchos entering the fourth quarter. Csapo's final goal tied the game with 52 seconds left. The five goals marked his third-highest output of the season. Csapo is tied for team lead with 49 goals (tied for sixth in the GCC) and he's seventh in points with 74.
Week 1 - Sept. 8: Matthew Hosmer, Pacific
Week 2 - Sept. 16: Mason Chambliss, UC Santa Barbara
Week 3 - Sept. 23: Mihailo Vukazic, Pacific
Week 4 - Sept. 29: Ethan Shipman, UC Irvine
Week 5 - Oct. 6: Adam Csapo, Pepperdine
Week 6 - Oct. 13: Dennis Blyashov, Pepperdine
Week 7 - Oct. 20: Bogdan Djerkovic, Pacific
Week 8 - Oct. 27: Bence Szabo, San Jose State
Week 9 - Nov. 3: Garrett Zaan, Long Beach State
Week 10 - Nov. 10: Sam Nangle, UC Santa Barbara
Week 11 - Nov. 17 - Adam Csapo, Pepperdine
Take a look at past winners here >>.
CONFERENCE PLAY
The seedings for the 2022 conference tournament came down to the last minute of the last game of the season. Take a look at the conference results from the year:
| Date |
Match-up |
| Sept. 18 |
at Long Beach State 13, UC Santa Barbara 10 |
| Oct. 8 |
Pacific 15, at Long Beach State 12 |
| Oct. 9 |
at Pepperdine 13, San Jose State 10 |
| Oct. 15 |
at UC Irvine 13, San Jose State 10 |
|
at Pacific 18, Pepperdine 13 |
| Oct. 22 |
at UC Santa Barbara 11, UC Irvine 6 |
| Oct. 28 |
at Pacific 18, UC Irvine 13 |
| Oct. 29 |
UC Santa Barbara 14, at San Jose State 8 |
| Oct. 30 |
Long Beach State 17, at Pepperdine 10 |
| Nov. 5 |
at UC Santa Barbara 14, Pacific 13 (OT) |
|
at UC Irvine 12, Pepperdine 10 |
|
Long Beach State 13, at San Jose State 10 |
| Nov. 11 |
at San Jose State 15, Pacific 10 |
| Nov. 12 |
at Pepperdine 13, UC Santa Barbara 12 |
|
Long Beach State 14, at UC Irvine 6 |
2022 GCC STAT LEADERS
GOALS
| ## |
NAME |
TEAM |
G |
| 1. |
Rafael Real Vergara |
LBSU |
68 |
| 2. |
Bogdan Djerkovic |
UOP |
55 |
|
Mihailo Vukazic |
UOP |
55 |
| 4. |
Matthew Hosmer |
UOP |
51 |
| 5. |
Ethan Shipman |
UCI |
50 |
ASSISTS
| ## |
NAME |
TEAM |
A |
| 1. |
Curtis Jarvis |
PEP |
44 |
| 2. |
Reuel D'Souza |
UOP |
38 |
| 3. |
Dennis Blyashov |
PEP |
36 |
| 4. |
Sandor Gal |
PEP |
35 |
| 5. |
Nico Tierney |
PEP |
28 |
POINTS
| ## |
NAME |
TEAM |
PTS |
| 1. |
Rafael Real Vergara |
LBSU |
88 |
| 2. |
Reuel D'Souza |
UOP |
85 |
|
Dennis Blyashov |
PEP |
85 |
| 4. |
Mihailo Vukazic |
UOP |
81 |
| 5. |
Curtis Jarvis |
PEP |
80 |
STEALS
| ## |
NAME |
TEAM |
STL |
| 1. |
Dennis Blyashov |
PEP |
33 |
| 2. |
Nico Tierney |
PEP |
29 |
| 3. |
Andrej Bosanac |
LBSU |
28 |
| 4. |
Christian Hosea |
PEP |
26 |
|
Sandor Gal |
PEP |
26 |
SAVES
| ## |
NAME |
TEAM |
SV |
| 1. |
Bae Fountain |
UOP |
196 |
| 2. |
Danny Roland |
UCSB |
180 |
| 3. |
Andrej Bosanac |
LBSU |
167 |
| 4. |
Jacob Pyle |
UCI |
116 |
| 5. |
Zach Cwiertnia |
PEP |
85 |
Find complete team-by-team stats and conference leaders here >>.
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