Nov. 7, 2010

BERKELEY - The No. 1-ranked Cal men's water polo team won its 10th match in a row with a 14-7 victory over No. 8 Long Beach State Sunday, Nov. 7, at Spieker Aquatics Complex. The Golden Bears, led by junior attacker Ivan Rackov's four goals and three goals from senior center Zach White, improved to 18-2 overall and a perfect 6-0 record in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The 49ers dropped to 7-12 and 0-6 in league play.

Other scorers for Cal included junior Charlie Steffens, junior Luka Saponjic and freshman Collin Smith with two goals apiece. Junior Zach Greenwood also tallied a goal at the end of the second period for the Bears.

Rackov is the MPSF's leading scorer with 60 goals in 18 matches, while White is second on the Cal squad with 42 goals. Rackov had an outstanding all-around match for the Bears against Long Beach State, pacing Cal with five assists, four steals and four ejections earned. Steffens led the Bears with three field blocks. Sophomore goalie Justin Parsons registered nine saves for Cal.

The match was tight in the first quarter as the Bears held a slim 5-4 lead after the 49ers' Taylor Clute, who led Long Beach State with three goals, scored on a counterattack with three seconds left in the period. However, Cal broke away with the first three goals of the second period on a pair of inside goals by White and a strong outside shot by Saponjic. The Bears went on to outscore the 49ers, 5-1, in the second period and 4-2 in the second half.

"We started off a little slow defensively early in the match today, but the guys rebounded and played some really solid defense the rest of the way," said Cal coach Kirk Everist. "This was a tough week with three good matches and we are happy to have gotten through it."

Long Beach State is coached by Gavin Arroyo, former Cal All-American (1992 and 1993) and Olympic teammate (1996, 2000) with Everist.

The Bears will next travel to Pacific for an MPSF league match on Saturday, Nov. 13 at 12 p.m. in Stockton. Cal has defeated the Tigers twice this season, 15-3, Oct. 3 at the SoCal Invitational, and, 11-8, Oct. 22 in a non-conference match at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

Long Beach State 4 1 1 1 - 7

Cal 5 5 3 1 - 14

Goals Long Beach State: Taylor Clute 3, Carter Taylor 2, Alexsandr Petrovic, Dan Matulis

Cal: Ivan Rackov 4, Zach White 3, Luka Saponjic 2, Charlie Steffens 2, Collin Smith 2, Zach Greenwood

Saves Long Beach State: Matthew Kubeck 9

Cal: Justin Parsons 9