BERKELEY – Upset-minded California was unable to muster enough offensive firepower to match second-seeded Stanford in a 17-11 loss in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Championship on Sunday afternoon at Spieker Aquatics Complex.
 
Fourth-seeded Cal, which earned a spot in the title match with an upset of No. 1 USC in Saturday's semifinals, dropped to 14-11 overall and saw its chances of an NCAA Championships berth disappear with the loss. Stanford (19-2) earned the league's auto bid to the NCAA Championships with the six-goal victory.
 
A hot start saw both teams combine for 10 goals in the first quarter, with Stanford owning a 6-4 edge after eight minutes of action. Consecutive goals by Safak Simsek and Jack Deely gave Cal an early 2-1 advantage, but the Cardinal later reeled off three straight goals of its own in a span of 1:30 to build its lead.
 
With Stanford ahead, 10-6, in the final minute of the second quarter, Cardinal star Ben Hallock was ejected with a misconduct penalty. Hallock's absence eventually played a role in momentum shifting into Cal's favor during the third period. Trailing 13-6 with 4:39 on the clock in the third, the Bears pulled themselves back into the fight with four straight goals by Joe Molina, Nikos Delagrammatikas, Miles O'Brien-Schridde and Nikolaos Papanikolaou over the next six and a half minutes.
 
Tyler Abramson staved off Cal's rally with a penalty-shot goal with 4:06 left in the fourth to make it a 14-10 deficit for the Bears. Despite Simsek's fourth goal of the match coming less than a minute later, Stanford netted the final three goals of the contest to clinch the title.
 
Adrian Weinberg posted 10 saves in goal for the Bears. Simsek (four goals, three assists) and O'Brien-Schridde (two goals, one assist) were Cal's two multi-goal performers.
 
NOTABLES

• Sunday marked the second straight year that Cal has finished as MPSF Championship runner-up to rival Stanford.
• Simsek posted a match-best seven points in his final collegiate match.
• Despite being held scoreless, Jordan Hoover totaled seven drawn exclusions and one assist.
• Papanikolaou dished out a pair of assists to go with his lone goal.

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