Men's Water Polo: Cal Whups UC Irvine, 11-7 -- November 17, 2002

BERKELEY, CA., Nov. 16. IN the final Mountain Pacific Sports Federation matchup of the year for both squads, the Cal men's water polo team (16-5, 5-3) defeated UC Irvine (14-8, 4-4), 11-7, today at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

The win clinches a No. 3 seed for the Bears heading into the MPSF tournament (Nov. 28-30) at Los Alamitos, while the Anteaters claim the fourth spot.

Cal took a 1-0 lead just 43 seconds into the match on freshman Vince Bevins' 14th goal of the year. Irvine's Ben Carlson answered right back for the Anteaters at the 4:11 mark to tie the game at 1-1. However, the Bears roared back to score three unanswered goals, ending the first period of action with a commanding 4-1 lead.

More of the same occurred in the second stanza with each team trading scores. Jeff Powers notched his first of three goals for the Anteaters at the 5:39 mark to cut the Cal lead in half, 4-2. Will Quist and Todd Hylton then scored back-to-back goals to give the Bears a four-goal lead, 6-2.

The Anteaters cut the lead in half with 1:11 to go before the break on a four-meter penalty score by Dreason Barry, but Cal's Andrew Stoddard found himself in a one-on-one opportunity with UC Irvine keeper Doug Finfrock with 11 seconds remaining, and netted the goal.

The Bears had a 7-3 lead going into the half and were nefver headed thereafter.

Cal returns to action next Saturday, Nov. 23 at 10:30 AM, hosting the No. 1-ranked and defending NCAA champ Stanford Cardinal in the annual "Big Splash" at Spieker.

GAME SUMMARY:

GOALS:
UC IRVINE - Jeff Powers 3, Dreason Barry 2, Phil Garcia 1, Ben Carlson 1
CAL - Andrew Stoddard 3, Attila Banhidy 2, Will Quist 2, Todd Hylton 2, Vince Bevins 1, Greg Panawek 1

SAVES:
UC IRVINE - Doug Finfrock 8
CAL - Russell Bernstein 8


BOX SCORE:

1 2 3 4 TOTAL
UCI 1 2 2 2 7
CAL 4 3 4 0 11