California
UCLA
11/28/2008 12:00 PM | Men's Water Polo
Nov. 28, 2008
MALIBU, CALIF. -
The No. 3 ranked Cal men's water polo team, the fifth seed in the MPSF Tournament, fell to 18-8 with a 12-11 loss to No. 5 UCLA, the fourth seed, in a MPSF quarterfinal match, Friday, November 28th at the Raleigh Runnels Aquatic Center in Malibu. Against UCLA, Cal was led by freshman Ivan Rackov and Luka Saponjic who led the Bears with two goals each.
UCLA struck first in the match with a goal by Scott Davidson at 5:39 in the opening period. Just over a minute later, freshman Ivan Rackov tied the match at 1-1. UCLA scored on its next two possessions to take a 3-1 lead. The Bears closed the gap to 3-2, on a goal by Charlie Steffens with 1:04 to play in the period. Ben Hohl answered on the Bruins next possession to extend the lead to 4-2. Sophomore Brian Dudley closed out the scoring for Cal in the first period with a goal with 0:04 seconds remaining to cut the lead to 4-3.
The Bears scored first in the second period to tie the score at 4-4 on Rackov's second goal of the day. After the Bruins scored on their next possession to regain the lead, Mike Sample answered for Cal to tie the score once again at 5-5 with 6:15 remaining in the first half. After nearly a three minute scoreless stretch by both teams, UCLA scored three goals over the final three and a half minutes of the first half to take an 8-5 lead at the break.
On Cal's first possession of the second half, Luka Saponjic scored to cut the lead to 8-6. A minute later, UCLA answered by scoring on two consecutive possession to extend the lead to 10-6. Neither team would score over the final five minutes of the period.
Trailing 10-6 entering the final period, the Bears finally got on the board again with Saponjic's second goal of the day with 2:19 remaining in the game to cut the lead to 10-7. UCLA's Krsto Sbutega answered with a goal at 1:27 remaining to extend the lead to 11-7. Cal junior All-American Spencer Warden closed out the scoring with 0:12 remaining to provide the final 11-8 margin.
With the loss, Cal will now play UC Irvine tomorrow, Nov. 29 at 10 a.m. at the Raleigh Runnels Aquatic Center in Malibu. UC Irvine lost to No. 1 ranked USC, 8-6, on Friday morning.
CALIFORNIA 8, UCLA 11
UCLA 4 4 2 1 - 11
California 3 2 1 2 - 8
California Goals: Ivan Rackov 2, Luka Saponjic 2, Charlie Steffens 1, Brian Dudley 1, Mike Sample 1, Spencer Warden 1
UCLA Goals: Scott Davidson 3, Ben Hohl 3, Tyler Jemmett 1, Krsto Sbutega 1, Jacob Murphy 1, Scott Swanson 1
