Catharyn Hayne / KLC fotos
MPOLO12/2/2023 8:02 PM | By: Cal Athletics
Cal Downs USC, Returns To NCAA Title Game
Bears One Win Away From Three-Peat
LOS ANGELES – For the third consecutive year, the Golden Bears are going back to the NCAA Championship game.
The California men's water polo team edged out USC 10-9 in the Trojans' (16-7) home pool on Saturday behind a late go-ahead goal by Marci Szatmary. The Bears advance to face top-seeded UCLA Sunday at 3 p.m. PT with a chance to three-peat for a record third time.
"We knew we were going to be in for a battle. I felt like our guys really made plays that we needed to make and handled the adversity and pressure that USC was putting on us consistently," Cal head coach Kirk Everist said. "We weren't afraid of the moment."
Szatmary's lone goal of the day couldn't have come at a better time. After USC erased a two-goal deficit in the fourth quarter to tie it at 9-9, Szatmary fired in a decisive and confident shot from the right wing right over the head of USC goalkeeper Bernardo Herzer with 1:47 remaining.
Goalkeeper Adrian Weinberg came up with his 11th and final save on the Trojans' next possession and Cal was able to kill the clock, keeping the ball out of USC's hands until there were only three seconds left. Coming out of a timeout, the Trojans quickly forced the ball inside, but it sailed out of bounds with time running out.
With their third win of the season over the Trojans – who entered the weekend with a No. 1 national ranking – the Bears knocked them out of the NCAA Championship for the third consecutive year.
"Credit to our team for being ready and being able to put us in position to get stops," Weinberg said. "Because we were able to play good defense, come out hard and not flat, I was able to make those saves."
It was a rare scoreless outing for center Nikolaos Papanikolaou, who had the entire USC defense keyed in on doing whatever it could to stop him. That led to the two-time reigning national player of the year drawing a season-best nine exclusions – five more than any other player.
Jake Howerton led all players with four goals and Max Casabella notched his team-leading 14th hat trick of the year. For Howerton, it was the third time in the last seven games that he's put away a season-high four goals.
Both Bears scored early to give their team a 2-0 advantage several minutes into the contest. The Trojans responded with two unanswered goals of their own, but Jordi Gascon whipped in a vicious backhand from center to give the lead back to Cal. Casabella finished off a power play in the final seconds of the quarter to put the Bears up 4-2.
The second period provided a defensive stalemate which USC finally ended at the 2:14 mark to cut the lead to one. Another goal on a 6-on-5 by Howerton kept the Bears up 5-4 going into halftime.
After the break, Howerton immediately got back to work, throwing in goals from straightaway on each of the Bears' first two possessions to give them their largest lead of the day, 7-4. The Trojans went on a 5-2 run to tie it at 9-9 early in the fourth, but were held scoreless over the final six minutes of the game.
Sunday's title match between Cal and UCLA will air on ESPNU and can be streamed here.
No. 2 California 10, No. 1 USC 9
Cal 4 1 3 2 – 10
USC 2 2 3 2 – 9
Cal Goals: Jake Howerton 4, Max Casabella 3, Wyatt Mundelius, Jordi Gascon, Marci Szatmary
USC Goals: Massimo Di Martire 3, Carson Kranz 2, Tony Nardelli 2, Jake Carter, Luka Brnetic
Cal Saves: Adrian Weinberg 11
USC Saves: Bernardo Herzer 10
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For further coverage of Cal men's water polo, follow the Bears on Twitter (@CalWaterPolo) and Instagram (@calmwaterpolo).
