UCLA
California
No. 4 UCLA Takes Down No. 2 California, 13-8
October 18, 2014 | Men's Water Polo
BERKELEY, Calif. -- In a game it never trailed, the No. 4 UCLA men's water polo team improved to 19-2 on the year and 3-0 in the MPSF with a 13-8 win over No. 3 California on Saturday morning at Spieker Aquatics Complex. The Bruins improve to 77-65-1 all-time against California, which dropped to 17-3 on the year and 1-1 in league play. It was the most goals scored against California since a 12-10 home win on Oct. 2, 1994.
Sophomore Gordon Marshall scored a career- and game-high five goals to lead the Bruins to their third-straight win over the Golden Bears.
The Bruins got on the board first on a cross-cage skip shot from Marshall at the 5:48 mark of the first period. Then senior Cristiano Mirarchi made it 2-0 with a power play strike (3:45). California's Aleksa Saponjic then converted a penalty shot to cut the lead to 2-1 (2:28). Luca Cupido tied the game at 2-2 (1:40) with a power play. But senior Paul Reynolds ended the quarter with back-to-back goals to give the Bruins a 4-2 lead at the end of the first. Junior Danny McClintick made a nice lead pass on a counter for the first score (0:50) and then Reynolds split the defenders and scored a near post skipper (0:3.7) to end the scoring in the opening stanza.
Saponjic trimmed the lead to 4-3 (5:15) with a cross-cage skip shot for the first goal in the second period. But Reynolds completed a hat trick for UCLA with a power play score to make it 5-3 (4:51). Farrel South cut it to 5-4 with a near-post skip shot (4:26). But the Bruins pushed it back to a two-goal lead when sophomore Ryder Roberts found Marshall for his second score on a 6-on-5 opportunity (3:47). Colin Mulcahy answered with an exclusion goal (3:00) to make it 6-5. Marshall then completed a hat trick to push the lead to 7-5 (2:33). Blake Kelly scored on another power play to cut the lead to 7-6 (2:12). But the Bruins would score the last two goals to take a 9-6 lead into the break. Roberts scored off the far post (1:53) and then sophomore Chancellor Ramirez just beat the buzzer (0:0.9) with a goal on a low skip shot from distance.
The Bruins dominated the third period, pitching a shutout while picking up three more scores. Marshall scored his fourth (4:24) and then punched in his fifth (3:30) off a nice feed from senior Chris Fahlsing to give the Bruins an 11-6 lead. Mirarchi then added his second on a wicked backhander from way out (0:01) to end the scoring in the third with the Bruins leading 12-6.
The Golden Bears mounted a small rally when they got back-to-back goals from J.D. Ratchford in the fourth to cut the lead to 12-8. Roberts set up junior Anthony Daboub for a power play strike (3:28) to end the scoring with the Bruins winning 13-8.
Sophomore Garrett Danner started in goal for UCLA and played the entire game, registering nine saves. Jon Sibley started in the cage for California and allowed 12 goals in three quarters while picking up five saves. He was replaced by Lazar Andric in the fourth, who surrendered one goal while registering three saves.
The Bruins return to action on Friday, Oct. 24 when they host No. 3 Stanford on the Pac-12 Networks at 4:00 p.m. at Spieker Aquatics Center.
No. 4 UCLA at No. 2 California
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F | |
| No. 4 UCLA | 4 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 13 |
| No. 2 California | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 8 |
UCLA Goals: Gordon Marshall 5, Paul Reynolds 3, Cristiano Mirarchi 2, Ryder Roberts, Chancellor Ramirez, Anthony Daboub
UCLA Saves: Garrett Danner 9
California Goals: Aleksa Saponjic 2, J.D. Ratchford 2, Blake Kelly, Farrel South, Luca Cupido, Colin Mulcahy
California Saves: Jon Sibley 5, Lazar Andric 3
