DAVIS, Calif. – No. 8 California notched a pair of nonconference victories over No. 19 California Baptist and No. 18 San Jose State on the opening day of the UC Davis-hosted Aggie Roundup at the Schaal Aquatics Center.
 
The Bears (5-3) pulled away from CBU (1-6) in the third quarter for a 16-7 victory in the morning and later took care of the Spartans (0-5), edging them with a 13-11 overtime win.
 
MATCH #1: No. 8 California 16, No. 19 California Baptist 7
Four first-half goals by Jordan Hoover and a seven-goal third quarter powered the Bears to a 16-7 victory over No. 19 California Baptist on Saturday morning. The win snapped a two-match losing streak and pushed Cal to 4-3 overall.
 
Hoover, the Bears' senior captain, set the tone early with four of their first six goals in the match. CBU led 3-1 in the second quarter, but Cal would shift momentum in its favor with five consecutive goals – scored by Hoover (3), Nikos Delagrammatikas and Jasmin Kolasinac – before the halftime intermission. The Bears continued to push the accelerator in the second half with seven third-quarter goals scored by six different players.
 
Cal's defense drew 13 exclusions and freshman goalkeeper Adrian Weinberg tallied six saves. Ten Bears scored at least once throughout the match, led by four goals from Hoover and two apiece from Safak Simsek, Jasmin Kolasinac and Nikolaos Papanikolaou.
 
Miles O'Brien-Schridde dished out three assists while Sam Untrecht tallied four steals.
 
MATCH #2: No. 8 California 13, No. 18 San Jose State 11 (OT)
Papanikolaou, Simsek and Kolasinac found the back of the net once apiece in six minutes of overtime play as Cal escaped an upset bid by the Spartans on Saturday afternoon. With a 10-10 tie at the end of regulation, Cal went to overtime for the second time in a one-week span, having done the same last Saturday in a loss to UC Davis.
 
The Bears scored twice in the first overtime period and put the match away with Kolasinac's second goal of the match and a field block from Papanikolaou in the second overtime frame.
 
A back-and-forth game from start to finish, Cal and San Jose State were tied at the end of three different quarters. Garrett Dunn broke an 8-8 tie just before the end of the third quarter and Papanikolaou followed him up with one of his team-high four goals to give Cal a 10-8 advantage with 7:05 left in regulation. The Spartans responded, however, tying the match with two late goals by Finn Pardon, who had five scores on the day.
 
Cal's defense came up big in the overtime periods, as Weinberg notched one of his nine saves and the Bears came up with two steals and a field block.
 
Five Bears had multi-goal performances against SJSU, including Jack Deely, who scored two of Cal's first four goals. Kolasinac added five steals to his three-point effort (two goals, one assist). Dunn, a freshman, had a well-rounded performance too, scoring twice along with four steals defensively.

COACH EVERIST'S TAKE
"We are trying to string some wins together right now, and we accomplished that today," said head coach Kirk Everist. "It wasn't pretty, but the boys made enough plays and are working on getting a rhythm together. We need to keep pushing and keep improving with every opportunity we get. We'll have two more chances on Sunday to get better."
 
NOTABLES

• Cal recorded 15 steals in its first win of the day vs. CBU. Untrecht (4) and Hoover (3) led the way in that category.
• The Bears fired off 38 shots against SJSU, 10 more than the Spartans were able to tally.
• Cal drew 27 total exclusions throughout its two matches played on Saturday.
• Simsek has scored at least twice in all eight matches played this season.

NEXT TIME
Cal wraps up its weekend trip to Davis with a rematch against No. 7 UC Davis at 10:30 a.m. and a clash with Santa Clara at 2:15 p.m. on Sunday. Both matches will be played at Schaal Aquatics Center.
 
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