Oct. 3, 2010

LOS ANGELES, CALIF - Powered by four goals apiece from juniors Ivan Rackov and Luka Saponjic, and 12 saves from sophomore goalie Justin Parsons, the No. 3 Cal men's water polo team (10-2) defeated No. 4 ranked Stanford, 13-9, for fifth place at the SoCal Tournament Sunday (Oct. 3) at UCLA's Spieker Aquatics Center.

The Golden Bears were able to rebound from a 9-8 second round loss to UC Irvine Saturday to finish the SoCal Invitational 3-1. Cal started the tournament with a 15-8 win over Santa Clara on Saturday, and then after the loss to UC Irvine came back to defeat Pacific, 15-3, Sunday morning and the Cardinal Sunday afternoon.

It was the second time the Bears have defeated their Bay Area rival this season as Cal upended Stanford, 11-8, Sept. 19 in the NorCal Invitational third place match in Berkeley.

Against the Cardinal Sunday, the Bears scored the first three goals of the match and led 8-2 at the halftime break to cruise to the victory. In addition to the scoring of Saponjic and Rackov, teammates from Belgrade, Serbia, senior captain Brian Dudley and junior captain Charlie Steffens had two goals apiece. Junior Jack Stampfl also scored for Cal. The Bears converted on seven-of-eight 6-on-5 situations against Stanford.

Rackov, the Bears' leading scorer on the year with 33 goals in 12 matches, finished the SoCal tournament with 15 goals to pace Cal. Saponjic had eight goals for the Bears on Sunday.

The Bears will next begin Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play with a key match versus No. 2 UCLA, Saturday, Oct. 9 at 10 a.m. at Cal's Spieker Aquatics Complex. The Bears will be looking to avenge last season's 10-7 loss to the Bruins in the 2009 MPSF Tournament title match.

Stanford 9, California 13

No. 4 Stanford 1 1 2 5 - 9

No. 3 California 4 4 3 2 -13

Stanford Goals: Peter Sefton 4, Jeffrey Schwimer 2, Paul Rudolph 2, Sage Wright

Stanford Saves: Brian Pingree 2, Hunter Ploch 2

California Goals: Ivan Rackov 4, Luka Saponjic 4, Brian Dudley 2, Charlie Steffens 2, Jack Stampfl

California Saves: Justin Parsons 12

Pacific 3, California 15

No. 7 Pacific 0 0 1 2 - 3 No. 3 California 4 2 5 4 - 15

Pacific Goals: Tom Konig 2, Jason Wensley

Pacific Saves: Joey Frantz 4, Alex Malkis 3

California Goals: Luka Saponjic 4, Collin Smith 2, Ivan Rackov 2, Zach Greenwood 2, Charlie Steffens, Giacomo Cupido, Zach White, Cory Nasoff, Brian Dudley

California Saves: Justin Parsons 7