Oct. 31, 2009

Courtesy of Cal

BERKELEY, CALIF.  Bolstered by a 5-0 run in the second period, the No. 2-ranked Cal men's water polo team (15-4, 3-1) defeated No. 7-ranked UC Irvine (13-7, 1-2) in an MPSF match Saturday at Spieker Aquatics Complex. The Golden Bears again showed balanced scoring, led by three goals from junior Brian Dudley and two goals apiece from senior captain Spencer Warden and sophomore standouts Cory Nasoff and Charlie Steffens.

Warden scored the first two goals of the match for Cal in the opening period, only to see UCI come back on goals by Greg Enloe and Sam Figueroa to tie the contest, 2-2, after the first quarter. The Bear then separated themselves by scoring the next five goals in the second quarter on shots by sophomore Ivan Rackov, Steffens, Nasoff and two scores by Dudley.

The Anteaters Cole Bielskis finally stopped Cals run with score with 1:03 left in the first half, only to see junior Zach White score with 31 seconds in the half to give the Bears an 8-3 advantage.

Cal sophomore Luka Saponjic opened the third period scoring by converting a five-meter penalty shot to up the Bears lead to 9-3. The two teams then shared goals as Cal owned a 10-5 advantage at the end of the third quarter. UC Irvine ended up outscoring the Bears, 5-3, in the final period, but Cal hung on for the 13-10 victory to capture its third MPSF league match in a row.

Besides being the teams top scorers, Dudley and Steffens, as well as Rackov, added two assists apiece. Rackov had a team-high three steals, while White and sophomore center Jack Stampfl each had two ejections earned. Senior captain Mike Sample paced the Bears with a pair of field blocks.

The Bears next travel to No. 16 UC Davis on Sunday, Nov. 1 at 12 p.m. at Schaal Aquatics Center in Davis.


No. 7 UC Irvine         2      1       2       5    -   10
No. 2 Cal                   2      6       2       3    -   13

UC Irvine Goals: Griffin Lerman 2, Brandon Johnson 2, Greg Enloe, Sam Figueroa,

Cole Bielskis, Tom Kruip, Kyle Baxter, James Frank

California Goals: Brian Dudley 3, Spencer Warden 2, Charlie Steffens 2,

Cory Nasoff 2, Zach White, Travis Bickham, Ivan Rackov, Luka Saponjic

UC Irvine Saves: Matt Johnson 7

California Saves: Wil Toppen 6