California
Stanford
9/21/2008 12:00 PM | Men's Water Polo
Sept. 21, 2008
STOCKTON, CALIF. - Stanford's Jeffery Schwiemer scored a goal with 1:19 left in sudden death overtime to lead the No. 3-ranked Cardinal to an 11-10 victory over No. 1-ranked Cal (6-2) in the third-place match of the NorCal Open at Chris Kjeldsen Pool on the University of Pacific campus. True sophomore Zach White and freshman attacker Luka Saponjic paced the Golden Bears with three goals each in the match. Freshman Ivan Rackov, who finished with nine goals in the four NorCal Open matches, tallied two goals against the Bay Area rival Cardinal. Cal's sophomore goalie, Jacob McIntosh, finished with an impressive 12 saves.
The Bears had jumped out to a 6-2 lead at halftime, but Stanford came roaring back to outscore Cal, 6-2, in the second half to knot the score, 8-8, after regulation. The Cardinal scored the first goal in the first three-minute overtime period, but the Bears came roaring back to outscore Stanford, 2-1, in the second three-minute overtime to tie the score at 10-10, setting up Schwiemer's match-winning goal in the sudden-death overtime.
Junior Thomas Pearson and freshman Brian Roach each had single goals for the Bears.
It was a tough Sunday for Cal as earlier it had fallen to No. 4 UCLA, 6-4, in the NorCal Open semifinals. The Bears, who had trailed the Bruins, 2-0 after the first period and 3-1 at halftime, could not make up the difference in the second half during the 6-4 loss. Against UCLA, Cal had single goals from senior captain Frank Reynolds, junior All-American Spencer Warden, Rackov and junior Mike Sample. McIntosh tallied five saves against the Bruins and redshirt freshman Wil Toppen finished with two saves.
During Saturday's NorCal Open action, the Bears had defeated No. 20 Cal Baptist, 11-4, and No. 8 Long Beach State, 8-4, to advance to the semifinals. Cal will look to rebound when it next travels to No. 5-ranked Pepperdine on Saturday, Sept. 27 for a 12 p.m. match in Malibu to begin its Mountain Pacific Sports Federation league schedule.
NorCal Open Third Place Match
STANFORD 11, CALIFORNIA 10
No. 1 California 3 3 0 2 0 2 0 - 10 No. 3 Stanford 0 2 3 3 1 1 1 - 11
California Goals: Luka Saponjic 3, Zach White 3, Ivan Rackov 2, Thomas Pearson, Brian Roach
California Saves: Jacob McIntosh 12
NorCal Open Semifinal
UCLA 6, CALIFORNIA 4
No. 1 California 0 1 1 2 - 4 No. 4 UCLA 2 1 2 1 - 6
California Goals: Ivan Rackov, Spencer Warden, Frank Reynolds, Mike Sample
California Saves: Jacob McIntosh 5, Wil Toppen 2
