No. 1 Cal Men's Water Polo Goes 4-0 at Navy Open

Sept. 7, 2008

ANNAPOLIS, MD -

Guided by senior captain Trent Calder's four goals and junior captain Spencer Warden's five steals, the No. 1-ranked California men's water polo team finished the 2008 Navy Open 4-0 with a 18-4 victory over Johns Hopkins Sunday afternoon (Sept. 7) in Annapolis, Md. Also excelling for the Golden Bears was redshirt freshman Wil Toppen, who saw the first action of his collegiate career guarding the goal and notched nine saves with three assists and a steal.

Earlier Sunday, Cal upended No. 12-ranked St. Francis, 10-6. In that match, the Bears were again led by senior attacker Frank Reynolds, who topped Cal with three goals. Defensively, sophomore goalie Jacob McIntosh continued his outstanding play at the Navy Open, finishing with a career-high 15 saves, while All-American Warden had a team-high four steals.

The Bears are now 19-0 in five years competing at the early-season Navy Open and outscored their opponents, 59-20, over the weekend. Cal had defeated Bucknell, 18-6; and Navy, 13-4, on Saturday before the two wins Sunday. The Bears had upended the Navy Midshipmen, 8-5, in the 2007 NCAA semifinal on the way to winning their second consecutive national title (8-6 win over USC).

Senior captain Reynolds was stellar during the 2008 Navy Open, finishing with 11 goals, four assists, three steals and three ejections earned, and two field blocks. Sophomore goalie McIntosh ended the tournament with 34 saves in three matches.

Cal will next compete in the prestigious NorCal Open, Sept. 20-21 in Stockton. All of the nation's top water polo teams will be competing at the NorCal Tournament, including Pac-10 schools Cal, USC, Stanford and UCLA.

Cal versus Johns Hopkins statistics

Goals (18) 4 Trent Calder 3 Brian Dudley, Frank Reynolds 2 Zachary Greenwood 1 Cory Nasoff, Spencer Warden, Zachary White, Brian Roach, Charlie Steffens, Travis Read

Assists (15) 3 Spencer Warden 2 Joe Ouadah, Trent Calder 1 Daniel Orloff, Mike Sample, Frank Reynolds, Cory Nasoff, Brian Roach, Charlie Steffens, Sandy French, Travis Read

Steals (17) 5 Spencer Warden 2 Scott Cruikshank, Sandy French, Zachary White 1 Brian Dudley, Cory Nasoff, Trent Calder, Zachary Greenwood, Travis Read, Joe Ouadah

Ejections Earned 1 Mike Sample, Spencer Rodman, Frank Reynolds, Spencer Warden, Jack Stampfl

Field Blocks (4) 1 Mike Sample, Jack Stampfl, Adam Cline, Joe Ouadah

Goalie Wil Toppen (4 qtrs) Saves 9 Asst 3 Steals 1

6 on 5 5 for 7

5man 3 for 9

Cal versus St. Francis statistics

Goals (10) 3 Frank Reynolds 2 Trent Calder, Scott Cruikshank 1 Mike Sample, Spencer Warden, Charlie Steffens

Assists (8) 3 Mike Sample 1 Frank Reynolds, Cory Nasoff, Spencer Warden, Trent Calder, Charlie Steffens