UCLA
Pomona-Pitzer
No. 1 UCLA Pounds Pomona-Pitzer, 18-7
September 23, 2016 | Men's Water Polo
Senior Joey Fuentes scored a game-high and career-high-tying four goals in the win.
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BERKELEY, Calif. -- The top-ranked UCLA Bruins improved to 12-0 on the year with an 18-7 victory over Pomona-Pitzer in the first game of the Mountain Pacific Invitational at Northgate High School in Berkeley, Calif. It marked UCLA's 45th-straight victory, which extends the second-longest winning streak in school history. The all-time record is 50, which was established from 1964-68.
Senior Joey Fuentes led the Bruins with a career-high-tying four goals against Pomona-Pitzer. Junior Aleksandar Ruzic played the entire game in the cage for the Bruins, registering six saves for UCLA.
The Bruins struck first with a penalty conversion by redshirt freshman Eric Goldenberg (6:49). Then Fuentes scored his first from the front court (5:43) and senior Patrick Woepse scored on a counter (5:07) to put the Bruins up 3-0. The Sagehens reeled off two straight power play goals (4:41, 3:34) to cut the lead to 3-2. Junior Jack Grover returned after missing last week's games and made an immediate impact, scoring on a counter to make it 4-2 (2:44). Junior Matt Farmer pushed the lead to 5-2 (2:03) with a goal at set. After the Sagehens scored a goal from the front court, sophomore Austin Rone scored on a counter (0:03) to end the scoring in the first period with the Bruins holding a 6-3 lead.
Fuentes scored his second of the game to open the second period scoring (6:46), followed by a power play goal from senior Alec Zwaneveld (3:35) and a goal from the front court by junior James Robinson (2:01) to extend the lead to 9-3. Farmer added his second goal on a counter attack (0:35) and the rout was on. Jacob Niskey scored an exclusion goal for Pomona-Pitzer (0:11) to cut the Bruins' lead to 10-4 at the break.
Fuentes opened the third period with back-to-back goals (6:41, 5:58) and Rone added his second (5:32) to increase the lead to 13-4. Each team would score one more goal in the period, which included another penalty conversion by Goldenberg (2:20) to put the Bruins up 14-5 heading into the fourth.
The Bruins added another four goals in the fourth by four different players in four different ways. Sophomore Warren Snyder scored on a counter (3:32) and Rone completed his hat trick with a strike from the front court (2:54) to put UCLA up 16-6. Woepse scored his second of the game on a power play (0:59) and Zwaneveld tallied his second from two meters (0:19) to make it 18-6. The Sagehens got a power play goal from James Baker (0:03) to provide the 18-7 final.
The Bruins return to action on Saturday, Sept. 24 at 8:00 a.m. at California's Spieker Aquatics Complex, when they face 10th-ranked Pepperdine for the second time in eight days, in the quarterfinals of the Mountain Pacific Invitational.
Pomona-Pitzer vs. No. 1 UCLA (Mountain Pacific Invitational - First Round)
| SCOREBOARD | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F |
| Pomona-Pitzer | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| No. 1 UCLA | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 18 |
6x5 - UCLA - 2/5 - PP - 5/6
Penalties - UCLA - 2/2 - PP - 0/0
UCLA Goals: Joey Fuentes 4, Austin Rone 3, Patrick Woepse 2, Alec Zwaneveld 2, Matt Farmer 2, Eric Goldenberg 2, Jack Grover 1, James Robinson 1, Warren Snyder 1
UCLA Saves: Aleksandar Ruzic 6
PP Goals: Adam Ward 2, Tommy Turner 2, Jacob Niskey 1, James Baker 1, Sam Gorcey-Biblowitz 1
PP Saves: Daniel Diemer 6, James Kelbert 1
