Nov. 21, 2009

STANFORD, CALIF. - The No. 2-ranked Cal men's water polo team (20-5, 6-2) saw a nine-match winning streak come to an end, falling at No. 3-ranked Stanford, 8-6, in the annual Big Splash, Saturday, Nov. 21 at Avery Aquatic Center. The Golden Bears were led by senior captain Spencer Warden's two goals. Cal had held a 4-2 lead at halftime, but was outscored, 6-2, in the second half.

The Bears hadn't lost since falling to No. 1-ranked USC, 7-6, back on Oct. 11 in the championship match of the UC Irvine Invitational. Of Cal's five losses this season, three have against the Trojans and two against the Cardinal (20-2, 7-1). The Bears, however, did give Stanford one of its two losses this season, defeating the Cardinal, 10-8, in the semifinals of the UC Irvine Invitational.

Cal will now be the No. 3-seeded team behind USC and Stanford in next week's Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament at USC. The Bears will take on No. 6 seeded UC Irvine (15-11, 3-5) on Friday, Nov. 27 at 1:30 p.m. at USC's McDonald's Swim Stadium. Earlier this season Cal defeated the Anteaters, 13-10, Oct. 31 at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

The Trojans are the defending NCAA champions, having defeated Stanford (7-5) in the 2008 title match, but Cal topped USC in both the 2006 (7-6) and 2007 (8-6) NCAA championship.

Warden, who has led the Bears in scoring in the last two matches after tallying six goals Nov. 15 at Santa Clara, is a three-time All-American and has now scored 134 goals in 109 career matches. Cal's other scorers against Stanford included juniors Brian Dudley and Zach White, sophomore Ivan Rackov and redshirt freshman Mason Cox. Sophomore goalie Wil Toppen finished with seven saves.

California - 1 3 1 1 = 6
Stanford - 0 2 3 3 = 8

California Goal Scorers - Spencer Warden 2, Mason Cox, Brian Dudley,
Ivan Rackov, Zach White

Stanford Goal Scorers - Kent, Noll, Pulido, Rudolph, Sefton,
J. Smith, D. Wigo, J. Wigo

Goalie Saves: - Sandman 13 (S); Wil Toppen 7 (C)