Dec. 7, 2002

Los Angeles, Calif. - Led by three goals from junior All-American Attila Banhidy, the University of California Golden Bears defeated the Queens College Knights, 14-6, in the second semifinal of the 2002 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship at the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center at Loyola Marymount University, Saturday afternoon in front of a crowd of 2,167. With the win, second-seeded Cal (20-6) will take on top-seeded Stanford (23-5) in the Championship game at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.

The Bears advance to the finals for the first time since 1992. In this 23rd appearance at the NCAA Championship, the Bears victory today improved their overall record to 53-13 (.803) in tournament history. The win also marks the 18th time that Cal has appeared in the Championship game, and seventh versus Stanford. The Bears and Cardinal have faced each other six times in the finals, with each team winning three - the last a 12-11, three overtime Cal victory in 1992. The Bears and Cardinal have faced each four times this season with the series tied at three games apiece - each contest a one-goal decision.

Queens College took an early 1-0 lead on the first of sophomore Michael Vieira's four goals with 4:42 remaining in the first period. But the Bears would score two straight, one from senior Todd Hylton and another by senior Andrew Stoddard, to take their first lead of the game. Vieira netted his second goal of the game from the deep right corner to tie the game at two goals apiece at the 3:19 mark. With the first quarter coming to a close, junior Greg Panawek struck the net from the point to give Cal a one-goal lead that they would never relinquish.

True freshman Vince Bevins started a 10-3 Cal scoring run just 53 seconds into the second period with a one-timer from two meters off a beautiful pass from senior tri-captain Chris Lathrop. The Knights' Istvan Baloga returned the favor with his one-timer a minute and a half later to cut the Cal lead to 4-3. That was as close as Queens would get though, as the Bears broke open the tight game with five unanswered goals to end the second and start the third. Banhidy scored two of his three goals in the stretch to put the game out of reach.

"Queens never really dropped back on defense as we expected," said Banhidy who leads the Bears with 56 goals on the year. "They started to press more and we started driving, which was more successful and led to those two goals."

Cal entered the third quarter with an 8-3 lead and increased that lead to six on senior tri-captain Robbie Arroyo's lob shot over goalkeeper Vedran Sokac for his 13th goal of the year. With the lead at 9-3, the Cal reserves were able to see some extensive action as Peter Conte, Joe Born, Brian Rieben and Jeff Leeper all tallied a goal in the second half. In fact, in the most balanced scoring attack of the year, 11 different Bears notched a goal in the contest. Cal went on to outscore the Knights 6-3 in the second half, claiming the 14-6 victory and another shot at Stanford in tomorrow's Championship match.

"In general, I thought it was a hard match," said first year head coach and MPSF Coach of the Year Kirk Everist. "We didn't know a whole lot about their team and so for the last four or five days, we scrambled to put some things together. They are a mostly international team and they have a lot of experience. They work real well together. They're a team that runs a lot of picks and dry passes to the 2M. But, we were able to get in a rhythm toward the end of the second period and continue that into a victory."

Stanford advanced to the final with a 10-5 victory over UC San Diego in the other semifinal match. Junior Mike Derse tallied four goals in the victory for the Cardinal. Queens College (24-4) will take on UC San Diego (19-12) in the consolation game at 12 noon on Sunday. Queens falls to 1-2 in this being their second NCAA appearance while the Tritons fall to 6-15 in their ninth NCAA appearance.

Follow the tournament (including live stat updates) at www.lmulions.com or www.ncaasports.com.

GAME SUMMARY GOALS QC - Michel Vieira 4, Istvan Baloga, John Prokhin CAL - Attila Banhidy 3, Todd Hylton 2, Peter Conte, Brian Rieben, Chris Lathrop, Robby Arroyo, Jeff Leeper, Greg Panawek, Andrew Stoddard, Joe Born, Vince Bevins

SAVES QC - Sokac 6 CAL - Bernstein 4, Kates 5

BOX SCORE

	       1     2     3     4     T
QC (24-4)      2     1     1     2     6
CAL (20-6)     3     5     3     3    14