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Men's Water Polo:
UC Irvine Edges Top-Seeded Cal 13-12 in MPSF Tournament Semifinal
Nov. 24, 2007
BERKELEY, Calif. --- Junior Cole Bielskis scored the game-winning goal with 1:49 left in regulation to lift fifth-seeded UC Irvine past top-seeded and No. 2-ranked California, 13-12, in a semifinal game of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament at Spieker Aquatics Complex in Berkeley Saturday. With the win, the Anteaters advance to the MPSF Tournament championship game for the first time in history Sunday at 4:00 p.m. against top-ranked USC, which was seeded second in the tournament. The Trojans defeated Stanford, 10-6, in the other semifinal game Saturday. UCI (14-10), ranked fifth in the nation this week, was down 4-1 after the first quarter and 7-5 at halftime before outscoring the Golden Bears 5-1 in the third quarter. Consecutive third-quarter goals by Tim Hutten (7:41), Jamie Frank (6:14) and Colin Mello (5:23) gave the Anteaters their first lead of the day at 8-7. Cal's Zac Monsees tied the game at 8-8 on an extra-man goal with 4:43 remaining in the third period, but UCI's Brandon Johnson (4:25) and Hutten (2:13) countered to give the Anteaters a 10-8 lead entering the final quarter. Bielskis scored on a power play with 5:43 left for an 11-8 lead, but Cal scored the next three goals - Spencer Warden at 5:13, Trent Calder at 4:27 and Michael Sharf on a penalty shot at 3:49 - to tie the game at 11-all. Hutten put UCI back up 12-11 on a goal with 3:17 left but the Bears' Sharf converted another penalty shot at 3:06 to knot the game at 12-12 before Bielskis hit the game-winner at 1:49. Cal turned the ball over twice in the final minute. Hutten led all scorers with five goals and he has 71 for the season. Johnson added three with Mello and Bielskis scoring two each. Senior goalie Matt Garcia had six saves.
Sharf led Cal (25-4) with four goals and goalie Mark Sheredy had nine saves. MPSF TOURNAMENT SEMIFINAL UC Irvine 1 - 4 - 5 - 3 --- 13 UCI: Tim Hutten 5, Brandon Johnson 3, Colin Mello 2, Cole Bielskis 2, Jamie Frank. Cal: Michael Sharf 4, Trent Calder 2, Jeff Tyrrell 2, Zac Monsees 2, Vladislav Andreyev, Spencer Warden. Saves: Matt Garcia (UCI) 6; Mark Sheredy (Cal) 9. |
