Sept. 15, 2002

Los Angeles, Calif. - The fourth-ranked Cal men's water polo team (3-1) finished in third place this weekend at the USC-hosted SoCal Tournament. No. 1 Stanford (6-0) claimed the tournament title, defeating No. 3 UC Irvine, 10-6, in the title match.

After sweeping the first day of competition by cruising to a 15-5 victory over Navy and an 11-8 win over UCLA, Cal fell to first-ranked Stanford, 8-7, in semifinal action. The Bears rebounded to defeat Pacific (3-2) in the evening tilt, 9-7, to claim a third place tourney finish. Senior Chris Lathrop (3) and junior Attila Banhidy (2) led a Bear scoring attack that totaled nine goals in the match.

Senior goalkeeper Russell Bernstein recorded nine saves in the match, giving him 18 total saves for the tournament.

Banhidy led the Bears in scoring on the weekend, putting the ball in the net 10 times while junior Will Quist notched a solid six goals of his own.

Cal returns to action next weekend as the Bears travel to Stockton for a rematch with the Pacific Tigers at noon Saturday, Sept. 21.

Complete tournament results are available at: http://usctrojans.ocsn.com/sports/m-wpolo/usc-m-wpolo-body.html.

Game #4 - Third-Place Match
Pacific (3-2)  4-2-1-0---7
Cal (3-1)  	  1-3-3-2---9

UOP Goals: Eddie Wisniewski 3, Jarrod Cruzat 2, Nic Hepner 2 Cal Goals: Chris Lathrop 3, Attila Banhidy 2, Will Quist 2, Andrew Stoddard, Rob Arroyo UOP Saves: Laurie Trettel 7 Cal Saves: Russell Bernstein 9