UCLA
UC Irvine
No. 1 Men's Water Polo Upset By No. 3 UC Irvine
November 12, 2000 | Men's Water Polo
Nov. 12, 2000
LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- The No. 1 UCLA men's water polo team fell to No. 3 UC Irvine 9-8 in MPSF action this afternoon at the Sunset Canyon Recreation Center. UC Irvine's Jeff Powers scored five goals for the Anteaters, who improve to 18-5 overall, 7-1 in MPSF play. UCLA drops only its third game of the season, falling to 17-3 overall and 7-1 in MPSF action.
UCLA opened the scoring quickly with Matt Flesher taking a pass from Blake Wellen to score on the Bruins' first possession. The Anteaters answered with two goals to take a 2-1 lead. Sean Kern scored an extra man goal to tie it up with 3:36 left in the first. Flesher scored his second goal of the period at 1:41, but Dan Klatt scored for UCI with 44 seconds remaining in the first to tie the game 3-3 at the end of the period.
In the second, Kyle Baumgarner took advantage of a 6 on 5 advantage for UCLA, scoring from the left side. Two UCI extra man goals gave the Anteaters a 5-4 lead at halftime.
Kern scored his second goal of the game to tie the game at five, but a Powers goal gave the Anteaters a 6-5 lead just 20 seconds later. Kern answered back with another goal to tie the game at six, but UCI's Tony Grosso scored an extra man goal with 1:27 to regain the lead. Dave Parker scored his first goal of the game with eight seconds left in the third period to tie the game at seven.
Jeff Powers provided all the scoring that UCI would need in the final period. He scored with 4:02 remaining in the game to give UCI an 8-7 lead. He scored what proved to be the game winner with 20 seconds remaining in the game on a four-meter penalty shot to give the Anteaters a 9-7 lead. Flesher's goal with 11 seconds remaining in the game was not enough for the Bruins.
UC Irvine's goalkeeper Dan Hipp finished the game with 11 saves, including four in the final period. Brandon Brooks made four saves for UCLA.
The Bruins wrap up their regular season next Saturday when they host USC in a non-conference game at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center. Game time will be set on Monday.
UC Irvine (18-5, 7-1) 3 2 2 2= 9 UCLA (17-3, 7-1) 3 1 3 1= 8
UCLA:Sean Kern 3, Matt Flesher 3, Kyle Baumgarner, Dave Parker.
UCI:Jeff Powers 5, John Dorfi 2, Garrett Grosso, Dan Klatt.
Saves: UCLA-Brandon Brooks 4
UCI- Dan Hipp 11
