April 29, 2001

HONOLULU, HI - The No. 4-ranked women's water polo team (17-9, 8-3 MPSF) finished its season with a fourth-place finish at the MPSF tournament in Hawaii. The Bears reached the tournament's quarterfinals after defeating San Jose State, 8-4, on April 27. Cal went up against undefeated Stanford, Saturday, April 28, only to lose 6-4 in overtime. Trying to salvage a third-place finish and possibly end the season with a victory, the Bears had to go up against No. 3-ranked USC.

In their last two meetings, the Trojans defeated the Bears by identical 10-8 scores. The outcome would be a goal away from an identical three-peat, as USC would hand Cal an 11-8 defeat, sending the Bears home with a fourth place finish.

Cal opened up the match by leading 1-0 after the first quarter. USC would take charge in the second quarter, scoring five goals to the Bears' two, and taking a 5-3 lead after the end of the first half. Cal would come out fired up in the third quarter, scoring four goals of their own, yet USC would almost match them goal-for-goal, scoring three more to maintain an 8-7 lead with one quarter remaining. The Trojans would continue their assault and outscore the Bears 3-1 in the fourth quarter to finish the game with an 11-8 victory.

Ericka Lorenz led all Bears with three goals, while Brenna Fleener added two. Also contributing a goal were Heather Petri, Julia Cesnik and Julie Arnold. Fana Fuqua also recorded nine saves in the match.

The Bears finish the season with a 17-9 overall record, including an 8-3 mark in MPSF games.

Freshman Ericka Lorenz earned MPSF All-Tournament First Team Honors, while junior Julia Cesnik earned MPSF All-Tournament Second Team Honors

All Tournament Team

Tournament MVP -- Jackie Frank (Stanford)

All-Tournament First Team
Robin Beaugard (UCLA)
Ellen Estes (Stanford)
Sofia Konoukh (USC)
Ericka Lorenz (Cal)
Coralie Simmons (UCLA)
Brenda Villa (Stanford)
Goalkeeper: Jackie Frank (Stanford)

All-Tournament Second Team
Julia Cesnik (Cal)
Katrin Dierolf (USC)
Margie Dingeldein (Stanford)
Inna Fedoseyeva (San Jose State)
Julie Gardner (Stanford)
Aniko Pelle (USC)
Goalkeeper: Jamie Hipp (UCLA)

Click the following Link for Final Statistics/Results - 2001 California Women's Water Polo

Final Results

		1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Totals
California	1	2	4	1	8
USC		0	5	3	3	11

Goals
California-Ericka Lorenz 3, Brenna Fleener 2,
Heather Petri, Julia Cesnik, Julie Arnold
USC-Sofia Konoukh 5, Katrin Dierolf 4, Aniko Pelle 2

Saves
California-Fana Fuqua 9
USC-Courtney Lee 7