California
Santa Clara
10/26/2008 12:00 PM | Men's Water Polo
Oct. 26, 2008
BERKELEY, CALIF. -
The No. 3 ranked Cal men's water polo team (13-5), behind four goals from redshirt freshman Charlie Steffens, defeated No. 12 Santa Clara, 17-6, in a non-conference men's collegiate water polo game at Spieker Aquatics Complex in Berkeley on Sunday afternoon.
After falling behind 1-0 early in the match, the Golden Bears responded by scoring on three straight possessions and scoring the next nine goals to take a 9-1 lead while shutting the Broncos out for over 14 minutes in the first half. Santa Clara, led by Jack Wall with five goals, scored the last goal of the first half and opened the second half with a goal on its first possession to cut Cal's lead to 9-3 with 7:40 remaining in the third period. The Bears once again answered by scoring on their next three possessions to extend the lead to 12-3. Cal outscored the Broncos 5-3 to close out the game and earn a 17-6 victory.
Against Santa Clara, Cal was also paced by sophomore goalie Jacob McIntosh, who helped limit the Broncos to one goal in each of the first two periods. Senior Captain Frank Reynolds and junior All-American Spencer Warden scored three goals each while freshman Ivan Rackov, freshman Luka Saponjic, and sophomore Zach White added two goals each. Junior Thomas Pearson also notched a goal for the Bears.
Later Sunday afternoon, Cal, behind three goals apiece from freshman Jack Stampfl and freshman Zach Greenwood, defeated UC Santa Cruz, 16-5. Against UC Santa Cruz, Cal was also paced by freshman goalie Wil Toppen, who helped shutout the Banana Slugs for the first 22 minutes of the game. Sophomore Sandy French and Sophomore Travis Read scored two goals each while junior Grant Mitchell, sophomore Daniel Orloff, freshman Travis Bickham, freshman Bryan Schnugg, freshman Nick Ferrif, and freshman Eric Johnson added also notched a goal each for the Bears.
"Obviously we were disappointed with the result yesterday against UCLA," said Cal Coach Kirk Everist. "We made some critical errors that need to be cleaned up. I felt the team came back focused today and I was proud of there effort after a tough Saturday."
Cal returns to action next Saturday, Nov. 1 when they host No. 19 UC Santa Barbara at 10 a.m. at Spieker Aquatics Complex.
CALIFORNIA 17, SANTA CLARA 6
No. 12 Santa Clara 1 1 2 2 - 6
No. 3 California 5 4 4 4 - 17
California Goals: Charlie Steffens 4, Frank Reynolds 3, Spencer Warden 3, Luka Saponjic 2, Ivan Rackov 2, Zach White 2, Thomas Pearson
Santa Clara Goals: Jack Wall 5, Liam Farrell
California Saves: Jacob McIntosh 5
Santa Clara Saves: Michael Wishart 4
CALIFORNIA 16, UC SANTA CRUZ 5
UC Santa Cruz 0 0 1 4 - 5
No. 3 California 3 7 5 1 - 16
California Goals: Jack Stampfl 3, Zach Greenwood 3, Sandy French 2, Travis Read 2, Grant Mitchell, Daniel Orloff, Travis Bickham, Bryan Schnugg, Nick Ferrif, Eric Johnson
UC Santa Cruz Goals: Brian Fischi 3, Casey Cardone, Lucas Zepeda
California Saves: Wil Toppen 7
UC Santa Cruz Saves: Blair MacDougall 10
