Oct. 4, 2008

BERKELEY, CALIF. - Led by three goals apiece by junior All-American Spencer Warden and freshman standout Luka Saponjic, the No. 5 Cal men's water polo team (7-3) snapped a three-match losing streak with a convincing 16-4 victory over visiting Pacific (8-7) Saturday, Oct. 4 at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

Pacific's Will Milcovich scored the first goal of the day with 6:24 in the first period, but it was all Cal after that point as Saponjic scored a goal at 6:09 in the opening period, followed by Warden's goal at 5:51 and freshman Ivan Rackov's score at 4:56 in the first quarter. Milcovich did notched his second goal of the match at 4:36 in the first period to get the Tigers within 3-2, only to see Rackov and senior captain Trent Calder score at the end of the quarter to give the Bears a 5-2 lead after eight minutes. Calder scored his goal on an impressive one-on-one spin move at two-meters as time expired.

Cal went on to outscore Pacific, 11-2, in the next three periods, including scoring 10 straight goals from the end of the first half through the fourth period. Besides the three goals scored by Warden and Saponjic, five other Bears - Rackov, Calder, sophomore Zach White, junior Mike Sample and sophomore Daniel Orloff - had two goals apiece. Rackov and freshman Charlie Steffens each added three steals, while Warden, senior captain Frank Reynolds and sophomore Travis Read had two assists apiece.

Cal rebounded after suffering losses to UCLA and Stanford on the final day of the NorCal Open on Sept. 21 in Stockton, and fell to Pepperdine, 7-5, in an MPSF match last week in Malibu. It was the first time the Bears had last three water polo matches in a row since 2004.

Similar to the NorCal Open, Cal will compete against the top teams in the nation when it travels to the SoCal Open, Oct. 11-12, at Pepperdine.

PACIFIC at CALIFORNIA
UOP        2     1    0     1  -   4
Cal        5     3    4     4  -  16

UOP Goals - Will Milcovich 2, Austin Delong, Tyler Reardon

Cal Goals - Luka Saponjic 3, Spencer Warden 3, Trent Calder 2, Ivan Rackov 2
Zach White 2, Mike Sample 2, Daniel Orloff 2

Goalkeeper Saves: Brian Domecus (UOP) 10, Chris Rancourt (UOP) 1;
Jacob McIntosh (Cal) 3, Wil Toppen (Cal) 1.