California Golden Bears Athletics
California
MPSF Tournament
No. 2 Cal Men's Water Polo Defeats UCLA, 8-5, in MPSF Semifinal
11/25/2006 12:00 PM | Men's Water Polo
Nov. 25, 2006
IRVINE, CALIF. - Led by two goals apiece from senior team captains John Mann, Marty Matthies and Brian Bacharach, the No. 2-ranked California (28-4) men's water polo team put itself in the championship match of the 2006 MPSF Tournament with an 8-5 victory over No. 3-ranked UCLA Saturday at the Anteater Aquatic Complex on the UC Irvine campus. The Golden Bears, with their victory in the MPSF semifinals, will now get another shot at defending national champion and undefeated USC, who defeated Stanford, 5-3, in the other semifinal.
The Bears and the Trojans will play for the MPSF crown, and an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship, at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 26. The four-team NCAA Tournament is Dec. 2-3 at Loyola Marymount.
Cal had defeated Long Beach State, 17-6, on Friday in the MPSF opening round, before upending UCLA Saturday. The Bears have played USC in the finals of both the NorCal and SoCal Tournaments this season, and narrowly fell to the Trojans, 10-9, last weekend in Los Angeles. Cal will attempting to win its fifth MPSF Tournament title, capturing the league crown in 1992, 1993, 1995 and 2002.
Against UCLA, a team Cal defeated three times this season, the Bears were down 2-0 after the first period and 4-3 at halftime, but outscored the Bruins 4-0 in the third period to take a 7-4 lead heading into the final period. Besides goals from Matthies, Mann and Bacharach; senior Brian Kinsel and junior Jeff Tyrrell also notched scores for Cal. Michael March led UCLA with two goals. UCLA keeper Chay Lapin had 12 saves in the match, while the Bears' junior goalie, Mark Sheredy, countered with nine saves.
No. 3 UCLA 2 2 0 1 -5 No. 2 Cal 0 3 4 1 -8Scoring UCLA: March 2, Santos 1, Zider 1, Davidson 1 CAL: Matthies 2, Mann 2, Bacharach 2, Tyrrell 1, Kinsel 1
Saves UCLA: Lapin 12 CAL: Sheredy 9
