BERKELEY – Sixth-ranked California spoiled a five-point breakout performance by freshman Garrett Dunn as it fell to No. 7 Pepperdine, 13-12, in overtime at Spieker Aquatics Complex on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Bears (10-6) remained winless in their home pool as they went to overtime for the fourth time this season and second time in as many matches. Dunn led the way offensively with a hat trick and two assists while Adrian Weinberg tallied 14 saves in goal despite taking the loss.
 
Pepperdine (14-5) scored the final three goals of the match and netted the eventual game-winner with five seconds left in the first overtime period as Marko Asic corralled his own rebound and dished it to Curtis Jarvis, who put the Waves ahead, 13-12. The score would stand at the final whistle as Cal was held scoreless in the six minutes of overtime action.
 
Cal led by as many as three late in the second quarter after an unassisted goal by Dunn put the Bears up 8-5. Dunn, who entered the match with seven goals on the season, recorded his first career hat trick and had his first game with at least one goal and one assist.
 
The Bears would later lead at halftime, 8-6, and also held on to an 11-10 advantage through three quarters played. Safak Simsek's second goal of the game came at 6:18 in the fourth quarter and made it 12-10 in favor of Cal. The Waves would respond, however, with goals by Balazs Kosa (5:42) and Sean Thomas (3:46) to force overtime.
 
Cal mustered seven shots in overtime, seeing four of them either saved or blocked. The Bears had a last-chance opportunity with five seconds left after Weinberg made a save, but they could not get a shot off before the buzzer.
 
Despite getting rolled with six minutes left in regulation, Marko Valecic impressed with five points (two goals, three assists). Other individual performances included two-goal efforts from Nikolaos Papanikolaou and Jordan Hoover. Papanikolaou was a handful defensively, per usual, with five drawn exclusions and three steals.

EVERIST'S TAKE
"This was a tough loss for us today," said head coach Kirk Everist. "The team played very hard, but poor execution at key moments hurt us in the long run. We had opportunities to extend our lead early in the third quarter, but we didn't capitalize. As a result, Pepperdine turned that into a big run."
 
NOTABLES

• Cal is 2-2 in overtime matches this season.
• The loss snapped Cal's 19-match win streak against Pepperdine, which dated back to 2008.
• Weinberg's 14 saves are tied for his third most in a match this season. He has seven games with 10-plus saves.
• Cal was just 2-of-14 in power-play opportunities while Pepperdine converted 5-of-10.
• Jasmin Kolasinac dished out an assist, had one steal and won both of his sprints.
• Joe Molina and Nikos Delagrammatikas had two steals apiece.
• Simsek and Hoover are five and seven goals away from 150 and 100 for their career, respectively.

NEXT TIME
The Bears will take two weeks off from competition. Their next contest will be at UC Santa Barbara on Sunday, Oct. 27.
 
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