UCLA
California
No. 2 UCLA Advances to MPSF Title Game vs. No. 1 USC
November 18, 2016 | Men's Water Polo
Bruins defeat No. 3 California in the semifinals in thrilling fashion, 11-10, in overtime.
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LOS ANGELES, Calif.ย --ย The second-ranked UCLA Bruins rebounded from its first loss in nearly two years with a thrilling 11-10 overtime victory over No. 3 California on Friday night at Spieker Aquatics Center in the second semifinal of the 2016 MPSF Men's Water Polo Championship. The Bruins improved to 25-1 overall while the Golden Bears fell to 18-3. The Bruins advance to Sunday's title game against No. 1 USC looking for some revenge.as the Trojans ended UCLA's NCAA record-setting 57-game winning streak last week, 8-7. The Trojans advanced with a 9-5 win over No. 4 Stanford in an earlier semifinal.
Senior Patrick Fellner led the Bruins with a game-high-tying four goals but it was junior Alex Roelse'sย power play goal with 2:06 left in the second overtime period that proved to be the game-winner. Roelse finished with two scores on the night, both on power plays. Senior goalkeeper Garrett Dannerย played the entire game in the cage and registered 11 saves. Lazar Andricย played the entire contest in goal for Cal, recording 10 saves.
The two teams battled to a 2-2 tie in the first period with all four goals coming by way of power plays. Johnny Hooper scored first for Cal (7:25) but that was answered by sophomore David Stiling (5:48). Luca Cupido put the Golden Bears out in front at 2-1 (5:12), but senior Ryder Roberts had the equalizer (3:40).
Thomas Carroll put Cal up 3-2 on a counter (4:11) and Hooper added his second with a penalty conversion (3:24) to extend the lead to 4-2. But the Bruins would cut it to 4-3 with a goal from the front court by Fellner (2:27). Hooper completed a hat trick with a counter score (0:12) to give California a 5-3 lead at the break.
The Bruins found themselves doubled-up at 6-3 after a power play goal by Odysseas Masmanidis (5:29). Junior Jack Grover began the comeback for UCLA with a counter score (4:25) to end the scoring in the third with UCLA trailing 6-4.
Then the flood gates opened asย both teams combined to score eight goals in the fourth quarter. The Bruins opened the scoring with a powerful goal at two meters from junior Matt Farmer (6:42) that cut the lead to 6-5. An exclusion on Cal with just over four minutes to play gave UCLA a chance on the power play and the Bruins converted with Roelse firing a shot top shelf to tie the game at 6-6 (4:18).ย Masmanidisย scored fromย two meters to put Cal back in front at 7-6 (4:05). But on the next possession, two Golden Bears were excluded at the same time and Fellner converted on a 6-on-4 to tie it at 7-7 with 3:40 left. Cal responded to take the lead again at 8-7 on a power play goal Chandlerย Jarrels (3:15). With the two teams trading goals, it was Fellner's turn to complete a hat trick and tie the game at 8-8 on a power play (1:53). But Hooper added his fourth of the game from five meters after an ordinary foul to put Cal back in the lead at 9-8 just 10 seconds later (1:43). It was senior Gordon Marshall's time to step up and after he drew an exclusion, he scored the game-saving power play goal (1:10) to tie it at 9-9. Danner gave the Bruins the ball with 45 seconds left with a nice save, but Calย got a stop and looked to set up a counter attack in open water, but Danner came to the rescue and got a huge one-on-one stop. Cal got the ball back and called time out but couldn't convert as the game went into overtime.
The Golden Bears and Bruins battled to a stalemate after the first OT period. Fellner put the Bruins ahead with his fourthย goal of the match on a power play (1:28), but Masmanidisย scored his third goal from set to tie it at 10-10 (1:16). Roelseย scored the eventual game-winner withย 2:03 left in the second overtime, firing a shot from outside to convert a 6 on 5 opportunity, but there was plenty of excitement still on hand. Cal got a brief 6 on 4 opportunity and finished its final offensive possession with a 6 on 5 chance but a save byย Danner sealed the deal for UCLA.
The Bruins return to action on Sunday in an MPSFย Championship title defense against No. 1 USC. The first sprint will take place at 1:00 p.m. live on the Pac-12 Networks.
No. 3 California at No. 2ย UCLA (MPSFย Semifinal Game)
| SCOREBOARD | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1OT | 2OT | F |
| No. 3 California | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10 |
| No. 2 UCLA | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 11 |
6x5 -ย UCLA - 4/10 - CAL - 5/9
Penalties -ย UCLA - 1/1 - CAL - 0/0
UCLA Goals:ย Patrick Fellnerย 4, Alex Roelse 2, Jack Grover 1, Ryder Roberts 1, Gordon Marshall 1, David Stiling 1, Matt Farmer 1
UCLAย Saves:ย Garrett Dannerย 11
CAL Goals:ย Johnny Hooper 4, Odysseas Masmanidis 3, Chandler Jarrels 1, Luca Cupido 1, Thomas Carroll 1
CAL Saves:ย Lazar Andricย 10
