Oct. 5, 2003
Stanford, Ca - In an emotionally-charged game featuring two of the nation's best collegiate water polo teams, second-ranked Stanford and fourth-ranked California battled to sudden victory overtime and the Golden Bears prevailed with a 10-9 victory in the championship game of the NorCal Tournament on Sunday at the Avery Aquatic Center.
The deciding goal was scored on an extra man situation when Milos Ribic, a junior from Belgrade, Yugoslavia, powered a shot past Stanford goalkeeper Chad Taylor at 1:09. The game was tied six times.
Stanford jumped to a 2-0 lead when Thomas Hopkins scored at the 3:44 and 2:27 marks of the first period. However, the Golden Bears tied the game at 1:59 and 1:28 on goals by Greg Panawek and Will Quist. Cal took a 5-2 halftime lead on goals by Sean Vienna, Beau Schuster and Brian Kensel. Again the Cardinal fought back with three straight goals and tied the game at 2:38 of the third period. Both teams added a goal to end the period at 6-6.
Attila Banhidy gave Cal the lead at 7-6 at 5:58 of the fourth period, but Tony Azevedo scored at 1:08 to again tie the game. Then the unbelieveable happened. Kensel fired a point-blank shot at the Stanford goal with five seconds remaining on the clock to give the Golden Bears a 8-7 lead. However, Azevedo and the Cardinal would not quit. With only three seconds on the clock, Azevedo fired a long range shot that flew past Cal goalkeeper Tim Kates. The game was tied at 8-8 heading into overtime.
Banhidy scored to give Cal a 9-8 at 1:58 of the first overtime, but again Azevedo, a member of the 2000 United States Olympic Team, tied the game at 1:45 of the second overtime. But in sudden victory overtime, Ribic scored on a power play to give California the victory.
Stanford reached the championship game by exploding for seven goals in the fourth period, including the game winner with one second to play, and fought back to defeat third-ranked Pepperdine, 10-9, in the championship semifinals.
Entering the final period, Pepperdine held an 8-3 lead, but then the Cardinal scored four straight goals to pull within one goal, 8-7 with 3:04 left. With 2:08 remaining, Pepperdine's Mike Hausmann scored to make the score 9-7. Then at 2:16, Tony Azevedo scored to pull Stanford to within one goal. With 36 seconds remaining, Greg Crum tied the game at 9-9, and then with one second to play, freshman J.J. Garton scored the winning goal.
California battled back from a 6-1 third quarter deficit, tied the game with nine seconds to play in regulation and went on to upset previously unbeaten and top-ranked USC, 8-6, in the championship semifinals. The Trojans had entered the game 10-0 on the season, and that included a 10-8 victory over the Golden Bears last week. The Trojans built up what seemed to be an unsurmountable five goal lead (6-1) at 5:13 of the third period thanks in part to three goals by Juraj Zatovic and two goals by James Shin. Cal then mounted its comeback with five straight goals, including the tying goal with nine seconds in regulation by Joe Born. Two of those comeback goals were scored by Attila Banhidy. Banhidy then got the go-ahead goal at 28 seconds of the first overtime, and Will Quist added an insurance goal at 2:15 of the second overtime.
Sunday's Results
Game 17 (7:30 a.m.) - Loyola Marymount 11, Queens 3
Game 18 (8:40 a.m.) - UC Santa Barbara 8, UC Davis 4
Game 19 (9:50 a.m.) - Pacific 13, UC Santa Cruz 9
Game 20 (11:00 a.m.) - Navy 8, Santa Clara 6
Game 21 (1:00 p.m.) - Winner of Game 17 (Loyola Marymount) 7, Winner of Game 18 (UCSB) 6 (ot) - 9th place
Game 22 (2:10 p.m.) - Loser of Game 18 (UC Davis) 6, vs Loser of Game 17 (Queens) 5 - 11th place
Game 23 (3:20 p.m.) - Winner of Game 20 (Navy) 8, Winner of Game 19 (Pacific) 5 - 13th place
Game 24 (4:30 p.m.) - Loser of Game 20 (Santa Clara) 7, Loser of Game 19 (UC Santa Cruz) 6 - 15th place
Game 25 (8:00 a.m.) - UC San Diego 7, UC Irvine 6
Game 26 (9:10 a.m.) - UCLA 11, Long Beach State 10 (overtime)
Game 27 (10:20 a.m.) - California 8, USC 6 (overtime)
Game 28 (11:30 a.m.) - Stanford 10, Pepperdine 9
Game 29 (1:30 p.m.) - Loser of Game 25 (UC Irvine) 11, Loser of Game 26 (Long Beach State) 8 - 7th place
Game 30 (2:40 p.m.) - Winner of Game 26 (UCLA) 6, Winner of Game 25 (UC San Diego) 4 - 5th place
Game 31 (3:50 p.m.) - Loser of Game 28 (Pepperdine), 9 Loser of Game 27 (USC) 7 (overtime) - 3rd place
Game 32 (5:00 p.m.) - Winner of Game 27 (California), 10 Winner of Game 28 (Stanford) 9 (3ot) - championship game
California23121-0-1=10
Stanford20420-1-0=9
California Scorers: Banhidy 2, Kensel 2, Panawek 1, Quist 1, Schuster 1, Matthies 1, Vienna 1, Ribic 1
Stanford Scorers: Azevedo 4, Hopkins 3, Crum 1, Derse 1
Goalie Saves: Kates (C) 18; Taylor (S) 5
In an emotionally-charged game featuring two of the nation's best collegiate water polo teams, second-ranked Stanford and fourth-ranked California battled to sudden victory overtime and the Golden Bears prevailed with a 10-9 victory in the championship game of the NorCal Tournament. The deciding goal was scored on an extra man situation when Milos Ribic, a junior from Belgrade, Yugoslavia, powered a shot past Stanford goalkeeper Chad Taylor at 1:09. The game was tied six times.Stanford jumped to a 2-0 lead when Thomas Hopkins scored at the 3:44 and 2:27 marks of the first period. However, the Golden Bears tied the game at 1:59 and 1:28 on goals by Greg Panawek and Will Quist. Cal took a 5-2 halftime lead on goals by Sean Vienna, Beau Schuster and Brian Kensel. Again the Cardinal fought back with three straight goals to tie the game at 2:38 of the third period. Both teams added a goal to end the period at 6-6. Attila Banhidy gave Cal the lead at 7-6 at 5:58 of the fourth period, but Tony Azevedo scored at 1:08. Then the unbelieveable happened. Kensel fired a point-blank shot at the Stanford goal with five seconds remaining on the clock to give the Golden Bears a 8-7 lead. However, Azevedo and the Cardinal would not quit. With only three seconds on the clock, Azevedo fired a long range shot that flew past Cal goalkeeper Tim Kates. The game was tied at 8-8 heading into overtime. Banhidy scored to give Cal a 9-8 at 1:58 of the first overtime, but again Azevedo tied the game at 1:45 of the second overtime. But in sudden victory overtime, Ribic scored on a power play to give California the victory.
Stanford1027=10
Pepperdine3231=9
Stanford Scorers: Crum 3, Azevedo 2, Varellas 2, Hopkins 2, Garton 1
Pepperdine Scorers: Hausmann 3, Smith 2, Harvey 1, Keitel 1, Mann 1, Jasper 1
Goalie Saves: Taylor (S) 8; Tait (P) 11
Second-ranked Stanford exploded for seven goals in the fourth period, including the game winner with one second to play, and fought back to defeat third-ranked Pepperdine, 10-9, in the championship semifinals. Entering the final period, Pepperdine held an 8-3 lead, but then the Cardinal scored four straight goals to pull within one goal, 8-7. With 2:08 remaining, Pepperdine's Mike Hausmann scored to make the score 9-7. Then at 2:16, Tony Azevedo scored to pull Stanford with one goal. At 36 seconds remaining, Greg Crum tied the game at 9-9, and then with one second to play, J.J. Garton scored the winning goal.
California01231-1=8
USC23100-1=6
California Scorers: Banhidy 3, Quist 2, Born 1, Schuster 1, Mann 1
USC Scorers: Shin 2, Zatovic 3, Clark 1
Goalie Saves: Bennett (C) 16; Damjanovic (USC) 10
Third-ranked USC battled back from a 6-1 third quarter deficit, tied the game with nine seconds to play in regulation and went on upset previously unbeaten and top-ranked USC, 8-6, in the championship semifinals. The Trojans had entered the game 10-0 on the season, and that included a 10-8 victory over the Golden Bears last week. The Trojans built up what seemed to be an unsurmountable five goal lead (6-1) at 5:13 of the third period thanks in part to three goals by Juraj Zatovic and two goals by James Shin. Cal then mounted its comeback with five straight goals, including the tying goal with nine seconds in regulation by Joe Born. Two of those comeback goals were scored by Attila Banhidy. Banhidy then got the go-ahead goal at 28 seconds of the first overtime, and Will Quist added an insurance goal at 2:15 of the second overtime.
UC Santa Barbara4211=8
UC Davis1120=4
UCSB Scorers: Traverso 2, Arthur 1, Schoneberger 1, Balleew 1, Tiburg 1, Christensen 1, Alexander 1
UCD Scorers: Jay 2, Dingeldein 1, Jacobson 1
Goalie Saves: Wright (UCSB) 9; Wordes (UCD) 11
Tenth-ranked UC Santa Barbara raced to a 4-1 first period lead and never looked back in scoring an 8-4 victory over #20 UC Davis. With the score tied at 1-1, the Gauchos scored three straight goals to and extended the lead to 7-2 with 3:40 in the third period.
Loyola Marymount1631=11
Queens1011=3
LMU Scorers: Chapatte 4, Reilly 2, Smith 1, Wimer 1, Rey-Kiss 1, Oster 1, Wagner 1
Queens Scorers: Klochkov (Q) 2; Garcia 1
Goalie Saves: Elliot (LMU) 3; Sokac (Q) 17
Eighth-ranked Loyola Marymount exploded for six goals in the second period enroute to a 11-3 victory over #16 Queens College. Six different Lion players scored a goal in that second period. Ryan Chapatte led LMU with four goals while Pat Reilly added two goals.
UC San Diego1312=7
UC Irvine3120=6
UCSD Scorers: Hopkins 2, Finegold 1, Eicholz 1, Jendrusina 1, Peterson 1, Borso 1
UCI Scorers: Noon 2, Merlo 2, Garcia 1, Hutten 1
Goalie Saves: McElroy (UCSD) 7; Wynne (UCI) 6
Chris Eicholz scored the winning goal with 2:50 to play to lift fifth-ranked UC San Diego to a 7-6 victory over #9 UC Irvine. The Tritons were down 3-0 in the first period, but goals by Brandon Borso, Chris Finegold and Jonathan Hopkins tied the game early in the second period. UCSD's only lead of the game was the game winning goal by Eicholz with 2:50 to play.
Pacific2542=13
UC Santa Cruz1341=9
Pacific Scorers: Wisniewski 5, Zobler 2, Gonzalez 2, Akerman 1, Sheerin 1, Smith-Jones 1, McLaughlin 1
UCSC Scorers: King 3, Webb 3, Olivieri 1, Graner 1, Gneiting 1
Goalie Saves: McKenzie (UOP) 2; Jouras (UCSC) 7
Eddie Wisniewski tallied five goals to pace #13 Pacific to a 13-9 victory over UC Santa Cruz. The Tigers broke the game with five goals in the second period, two of them scored by Wisniewski.
UCLA32311-1=11
Long Beach State22321-0=10
UCLA Scorers: Peck 4, Hewko 3, Pietsch 1, Briscoe 1, Belden 1
LBS Scorers: Geoffroy 5, Palda 1, Allard 1, Brady 1, Bartak 1, Scoles 1
Goalie Saves: Azelrad (UCLA) 5; Onyshko (LBS) 9
Ted Beck scored the winning goal in the second overtime to help seventh-ranked UCLA defeat #6 Long Beach State, 11-10. Erik Geoffroy, who scored five goals for the 49ers, sent the game in overtime with a goal at eight seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 9-9. Peck had put the Bruins in front, 9-8, with a goal at 1:21 remaining.
Navy2123=8
Santa Clara1122=6
Navy Scorers: Rollo 3, Gentry 2, Tripiano 1, Ratcliffe 1, Fox 1
Santa Clara Scorers: Figoni 5, Starry 1
Goalie Saves: McCreary (N) 4; Moore (SC) 11
Patrick Rollo scored two of his three goals in the final period and that proved to be the difference as Navy defeated Santa Clara, 8-6. With 5:58 remaining and the game tied at 5-5, Jordan Gentry scored the go-ahead goal at 5:33 and Rollo added insurance goals at 4:44 and at 2:37.
UC Irvine3143=11
Long Beach State3122=8
UCI Scorers: Garcia 3, White 3, Merlo 2, Noon 2, Masterson 1
LBS Scorers: Del Grande 3, Geoffroy 2, Bartak 1, Scoles 1, Palda 1
Goalie Saves: Wynne (UCI) 5; Onyshko (LBS) 4
Phil Garcia scored three goals to pace #9 UC Irvine to an 11-8 victory over #6 Long Beach State to clinch seventh place at the NorCal Tournament. The game was tied at 3-3 after one period, and 4-4 at halftime. UCI then outscored the 49ers, 7-4, in the final two frames for the win.
Loyola Marymount13200-1=7
UC Santa Barbara10320-0=6
LMU Scorers: Barr 3, Oster 1, Chapatte 1, Smith 1, Rex-Kiss 1
UCSB Scorers: Schoneberger 2, Alexander 2, Traverso 1, Saldin 1
Goalie Saves: Elliot (LMU) 8; Wright (UCSB) 4
Kris Barr scored three goals, including the game winner in overtime, as eighth-ranked Loyola Marymount defeated #10 UC Santa Barbara to earn ninth place at the NorCal Tournament. The Lions led 4-1 at halftime, but the Gauchos outscored LMU, 5-2, in the final two periods to even the game at 6-6. Andrew Schoneberger's goal with 23 seconds in regulation sent the game into overtime. Neither team scored in the first overtime, but Barr got the game winner in the second overtime at 1:27.
UCLA2112=6
UC San Diego0103=4
UCLA Scorers: Ormsby 3, Pietsch 1, Zider 1, March 1
UCSD Scorers: Eicholz 1, Smoker 1, Borso 1, Hopkins 1
Goalie Saves: Axelrad (UCLA) 10; McElroy (UCSD) 9
Joseph Axelrad collected ten saves to lead seventh-ranked UCLA to a 6-4 victory over #5 UC San Diego to clinch fifth at the NorCal Tournament. The Bruins led throughout the entire game. Brett Ormsby scored three goals for UCLA.
UC Davis0132=6
Queens1211=5
UCD Scorers: Duignan 2, Jay 2, Jones 1, Welch 1
Queens Scorers: Toygarli 1, Prokhim 1, Klochkov 1, Garcia 1, Tomasevic 1
Goalie Saves: Wordes (UCD) 4; Sokac (Q) 6
UC Davis earned eleventh place at the NorCal Tournament with a 6-5 victory over Queens College. Tom Jay scored the winning goal with 30 seconds to play. The Aggies had moved in front in the fourth period on a goal by David Welch at 4:05, but Haldun Toygarli tied the game for Queens at 1:07.
Pepperdine20142-0=9
USC40300-0=7
Pepperdine Scorers: Smith 3, Acosta 3, Hausmann 2, Barth 1
USC Scorers: Zatovic 2, Hale 1, Damjanov 1, Clark 1, Kaiser 1, Reynolds 1
Goalie Saves: Tait (P) 13; Damjanovic (USC) 11
Top-ranked USC suffered its second straight loss in the NorCal Tournament, this time at the hands of the Pepperdine Waves, 9-7 in overtime. Josh Acosta and Jesse Smith each scored three goals. Smith scored two of his goals in the first overtime period. The Waves finished third at the NorCal Tournament.
Santa Clara0241=7
UC Santa Cruz3030=6
Santa Clara Scorers: Flanagan-De La Hoz 3, Figoni 2, Greco 1, Allison 1
UCSC Scorers: Webb 2, McGarry 1, Moon 1, McKown 1, Gneiting 1
Goalie Saves: Moore (SC) 4; Jouras (UCSC) 4
Three goals by Kenny Flanagan-De La Hoz and two by Daniel Figoni carried Santa Clara to a 7-6 victory over UC Santa Cruz to finish in 15th place at the NorCal Tournament. UC Santa Cruz jumped to a 3-0 first period lead, but the Broncos tied the game at 3-3 with 4:59 in the third period on a goal by Grant Allison. With the score tied at 6-6 after three periods, Santa Clara won the game with 4:37 on a goal by Flanagan-De La Hoz.
Navy2213=8
Pacific0221=5
Navy Scorers: Rollo 2, Ratcliffe 2, Gentry 2, Kepner 1, Tripiano 1
Pacific Scorers: Wisniewski 2, Zobler 1, Akerman 1, Smith-Jones 1
Goalie Saves: McCreary (N) 5; Merkel (UOP) 8
Patrick Rollo, Alex Ratcliffe and Jordan Gentry each scored two goals to lead #12 Navy to an 8-5 victory over #13 Pacific to clinch 13th place at the NorCal Tournament. Navy never trailed in the game, and had their biggest lead, 8-4, with 3:39 in the fourth period.