Catharyn Hayne / KLC fotos
MPOLO9/21/2024 5:19 PM | By: Cal Athletics
Cal Moves On To MPSF Invitational Third-Place Game
Bears Split Games Against Top-7 Foes
BERKELEY – Playing in front of a packed Spieker Aquatics Complex crowd for the first time in 2024, the No. 6 California men's water polo team defeated No. 7 Princeton 15-10 and fell to No. 1 UCLA 12-7.
The Golden Bears (7-2) earned their second win over a top-seven team in their morning game against the Tigers (7-3), getting multi-goal efforts from five players and a season-high 11 saves by goalkeeper Riley Clansen. Max Casabella and Marci Szatmary led the offense with three goals each.
Despite starting the game down 2-0, the Bears would lead at the end of the first quarter as they took complete control with a 7-1 run. Albert Ponferrada gave Cal its first lead with a rocket from the outside to make it 3-2. Midway through the second, Carter Loth drew an exclusion and got it right back on a lob from Ponferrada to double the Bears' lead, 4-2.
Clansen kept the momentum going with a big save in front of the cage, leading to a counterattack finished off easily by William Kelly. Szatmary and Casabella scored on consecutive possessions to make it 7-3.
Center George Avakian dominated the opening minutes of the second half, powering one in just 20 seconds out of the break. Similar to Loth's first-half goal, Avakian drew an exclusion – one of four in the game – and immediately took a pass from Ponferrada to put Cal up 9-5. Szatmary lasered in two more goals down the stretch and Casabella put away his third as the Bears cruised to the finish line.
Later in the day, in a rematch of last year's NCAA Championship Game, the Bears battled the nation's top-ranked team hard, fighting back from an early three-goal deficit. A late first-quarter strike by Casabella got Cal on the board and Avakian made another strong play in the second, drawing an exclusion and scoring immediately after to cut UCLA's lead to 3-2.
Nik Mirkovic and Kelly added another two goals in the second quarter, capping the Bears' best stretch of the game to make it a 5-4 deficit, but the Bruins ended the first half strong with three unanswered goals.
Cal scored twice in the third quarter as Avakian put away his second goal of the game and Casabella smashed in a penalty. Freshman Maddox Arlett put in the Bears' lone fourth-quarter goal. Avakian finished with four earned exclusions for the second straight game.
The Bears move on to Sunday's MPSF Invitational third-place game against No. 2 Stanford at 1 p.m. PT.
No. 6 California 15, No. 7 Princeton 10
Cal 3 4 4 4 – 15
Princeton 2 3 3 2 – 10
Cal Goals: Casabella 3, Szatmary 3, Albert Ponferrada 2, George Avakian 2, William Kelly 2, Alex Oprea, Carter Loth, Bende Pardi
Princeton Goals: Roko Pozaric 4, Luke Johnston, George Caras, Enrique Nuño, Finn LeSiur, Gavin Appledorn, Logan McCarroll
Cal Saves: Riley Clansen 11
Princeton Saves: Kristóf Kovács
No. 1 UCLA 12, No. 6 California 7
Cal 1 3 2 1 – 7
UCLA 3 5 2 2 – 12
Cal Goals: Casabella 2, Avakian 2, Arlett, Mirkovic, Kelly
UCLA Goals: Peter Castillo 2, Ben Liechty 2, Ryder Dodd 2, Jucá Carsalade, Szécsi, Larsen, Voggenthaler, Carson, Tierney
Cal Saves: Riley Clansen 14
UCLA Saves: Garret Griggs 10
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For further coverage of Cal men's water polo, follow the Bears on Twitter (@CalWaterPolo) and Instagram (@calmwaterpolo).
