April 30, 2010
LOS ANGELES, CALIF. - The No. 3-seed California women's water polo team topped No. 6-seed San Jose State, 7-5, in the first round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament Friday at UCLA's Spieker Aquatics Center. Senior Stephanie Schnugg paced the Golden Bears with a game-high three goals. Sophomore Emily Csikos added two goals, bringing her season total to 61. Csikos became just the second player in Cal history to post back-to-back seasons with at least 60 goals, joining Alisa vonHartitzsch, who accomplished the feat in 1997 and 1998. Defensively, sophomore goalie Stephanie Peckham added nine saves for the Bears. Cal improves to 24-6 on the year and advances to the semifinals of the MPSF Tournament against No. 2-seed USC.
The Bears struck first and took an early 3-0 lead in the first quarter. Schnugg started the scoring with a goal at 5:06. Freshman Dana Ochsner scored her only goal of the game at the 3:57 mark, and Schnugg added her second goal of the match one minute later. The Spartans were able to get on the board before the end of the period to cut the Cal lead to 3-1.
In the second quarter, Schnugg scored her third goal of the day at the 6:17 mark to give the Bears a 4-1 advantage. San Jose State scored with 3:44 left in the half, but Cal quickly responded when Csikos added her first goal of the match. After sophomore Elizabeth McLaren added a goal for the Bears, the Spartans were able to score just seven seconds later. Csikos was able to score her second goal of the game at the buzzer to give Cal a 7-3 lead at halftime.
San Jose State locked down on defense in the second half, holding the Bears scoreless for the final two quarters. The Spartans only managed to score twice in the second half--once in the third and once in the fourth--to bring the final score to 7-5 in favor of Cal.
The Bears will next face USC in the semifinals of the tournament at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday at UCLA's Spieker Aquatics Center. In the first two meetings of the year between the two teams, the Trojans won twice, defeating Cal 10-5 at the UC Irvine Invitational and 7-4 in Los Angeles in a conference matchup.
San Jose State: 1-2-1-1 --- 5
California: 3-4-0-0 --- 7
San Jose State Goals: Dani Curran 2, Adriana Vogt 2, Kathryn Hannum
California Goals: Stephanie Schnugg 3, Emily Csikos 2, Dana Ochsner, Elizabeth McLaren
San Jose State Saves: Meagan Minson 8
California Saves: Stephanie Peckham 9
