BERKELEY – Fourth-seeded California cruised through the quarterfinal round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Championship quarterfinal round on Friday with a 22-3 victory over No. 5 seed Austin College at Spieker Aquatics Complex.
 
Cal's 19-goal win set up a semifinal contest against top-seeded USC (13-4) on Saturday, which earned a bye in the quarterfinals. The Bears improved to 13-10 and tallied their highest scoring total and margin of victory this season.
 
A six-goal run to open the match put Cal in the driver's seat. Nikolaos Papanikolaou, who finished the game with a career-best five goals, scored three times in a 1:26-minute span early on in the first quarter. The Bears led 9-1 at the end of the first and owned a 14-1 advantage by halftime. Adrian Weinberg recorded nine saves and a pair of assists before turning it over to Bernardo Carelli at halftime.
 
Cal outscored Austin College 8-2 in the second half. Standout performers for the Bears included Sam Untrecht (eight points; three goals, five assists), Tamir Avital (four goals, one steal) and Miles O'Brien-Schridde (four goals, two assists).
 
Austin College picked up a 10-9 win over Penn State Behrend earlier in the day to determine the tournament's No. 5 and 6 seeds. The Roos fell to 4-18 overall this season.
 
NOTABLES

• All 16 players on Cal's tournament roster saw action on Friday.
• Untrecht's eight points are the most by a Bear in a single match this season.
• Four Bears had three goals or more.
• Warren Loth snagged four steals to go along with his three-point effort (one goal, two assists).
• Cal shot 22-of-41 (.537) in the match.
• All 14 of Cal's field players recorded at least one point.

NEXT TIME
Cal and USC will clash at 11 a.m. (PT) on Saturday with a trip to the MPSF Championship title match on the line. The Trojans have bested Cal twice this year, but only hold a three-goal margin in those two matches. In last year's MPSF Championship semifinal, Cal rallied from behind to defeat USC, 10-9, and advance to the title game.
 
STAY POSTED
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