Nov. 29, 1999
LAST WEEK: The fourth-ranked Bears (14-11 overall, 4-4 MPSF) finished third at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament, defeating Pacific in their final game, 7-6. The Bears lost to eventual tournament champion UCLA in the championship semifinal in overtime, 12-9. Cal notched a first round 8-6 victory against fifth-seeded Long Beach St. to propel them into the winner's bracket. With only two slots open for MPSF teams, the third place finish was not enough to qualify the Bears for a NCAA Tournament berth.
NCAA TOURNAMENT: The NCAA Tournament will take place on Dec. 3 and 5 at UC San Diego. The MPSF will be represented by MPSF Tournament champion UCLA and runner-up Stanford. UCLA enters the tournament with the top seed and will take on fourth-seeded Massachusetts on Dec. 3. Stanford enters the tournament with a No. 2 seed and will take on third-seeded UC San Diego in the semifinals. The Bears have not participated in the NCAA Tournament since 1995 when they took second place after losing to UCLA, 10-8, in the finals.
WON ENDS CAREER WITH PAIR OF DEUCES: Senior Albert Won notched two two-point goals including a game-tying two-pointer against UCLA that sent the match into overtime. The pair of deuces in this week's tournament doubled Won's season total, to give him a team-leading four two-pointers on the season. Won went scoreless in the third place match with the Tigers, but ended the season with 28 points. Won led the team with four two-pointers last season as well, on his way to scoring a career-best 30 points. The Los Angeles native was named Freshman Athlete of the Year by the Daily Californian in 1996 after scoring 25 points, including two match-winning goals. He ends his Cal career with 107 points.
AHASEY SAVES: Notching 16 saves against Long Beach St. and 13 blocks against Pacific, senior goalie Kevin Ahasey had 34 saves in the tournament. The 16 save effort was Ahasey's best single-game performance of his career. He ends his Cal tenure with 187 saves and 6.79 points against average.
SMITH FINISHES STRONG: It did not take long for Jerry Smith to catch fire at MPSF. After scoring just one goal in the Bears' first round win over Long Beach State, Smith notched four goals against both UCLA and Pacific, on his way to garnering All-Tournament honors. Smith led Cal in scoring in three of their final four games, tallying four goals against Stanford in the Big Splash. In the win over Pacific in the third place game, Smith scored the Bears' final three goals, including the game-winner with 28 seconds left in regulation. Before the Stanford match, Smith had not scored more than two points in a game since Oct. 10 when he had four points in the Bears' NorCal Tourney loss to the Cardinal. Before that loss to the Cardinal, Smith had three or more points in five of Cal's first thirteen games, including two five-point efforts. Smith finishes the season with 48 points (including three-two pointers), and now has 91 career points.
THE COACHES: Peter Asch concludes his first season as Cal's head coach with a 14-11 overall record (.560), garnering the first-ever Steve Heaston Award after coaching his team to a 10-6 Big Splash victory over Stanford. Asch was a three-time All-American player for Cal from 1967-69, serving as team captain in '68 and '69. Last season, Asch served as head coach of the women's water polo team, a position he will continue to hold. Assistant coach Doug Arth concludes his 11th season with the Bears. A four year-letterwinner as a player for Pete Cutino in the early seventies, Arth was the 1972 AAU Outdoor National Player of the Year and a two-time All-American (1973 and '74).
