Saturday, September 23
Los Angeles, CA
3:15 PM
UCLA
9
vs
8
California
Freshman Nicolas Saveljic led the Bruins with a hat trick in the double overtime victory.
Photo by: Don Liebig, UCLA Photography
No. 4 UCLA Stuns No. 1 California, 9-8
September 23, 2017 | Men's Water Polo
The Bruins will face #2 USC in the championship game on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
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Freshman Nicolas Saveljic led the Bruins in scoring with three goals while redshirt sophomore Alex Wolf played the entire game in goal, registering 11 saves, four steals and one assist while surrendering eight goals.
Luca Cupido got the Golden Bears on the board first with a score at even strength (4:18). Freshman Chasen Travisano tied things up at 1-1 (2:58) with a power play goal. Then Saveljic scored a power play goal (2:04) ending the scoring in the first with the Bruins leading 2-1.
Freshman Luke Henriksson got things going in the second with a goal from the front court (3:09) to push the lead to 3-1. Vassilis Tzavaras ended the scoring in the second with a power play goal (1:13) to cut the lead to 3-2 at halftime.
Saveljic opened the scoring in the third with a power play goal (6:55) to push the Bruins' lead to 4-2. But Tzavaras trimmed it to 4-3 with another power play goal (6:23). Senior Alex Roelse extended the lead to 5-3 with a power play goal (4:55). Cupido scored his second of the game at even strength to trim the lead to 5-4 (3:38) to end the scoring in the third period.
Odysseas Masmanidis tied the game at 5-5 (6:47) with a goal at two meters for California. But senior Max Irving put the Bruins up 6-5 (2:24) with a goal at full strength four minutes later. Over a minute later, Johnny Hooper converted a penalty shot (1:20) to tie the game at 6-6. Both teams would make a huge defensive stop down the stretch to send the game into extra frames.
In the first overtime period, California regained the lead on a shot by Cupido after the ordinary foul to give the Golden Bears a 7-6 lead (2:41). But like he did in the earlier game against Pacific, senior Matt Farmer stepped up with a huge score from two meters (1:38) to tie the game at 7-7. Saveljic completed his hat trick with a power play goal with 12 seconds remaining in the first overtime period that gave UCLA an 8-7 advantage. Senior Jack Grover scored on a counter that gave the Bruins a 9-7 lead with 2:32 to go. But Cupido netted his fourth of the game after another ordinary foul (1:02) that cut the lead to 9-8. The Bruins would make a final defensive stand to secure the victory.
The Bruins return to action on Sunday, Sept. 24 in the championship game of the Mountain Pacific Invitational at No. 2 USC at 2:30 p.m. PT.
No. 4 UCLA vs. No. 1 California (Mountain Pacific Invitational - Semifinals)
| SCOREBOARD | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT1 | OT2 | F |
| No. 4 UCLA | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 9 |
| No. 1 California | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
6x5 - UCLA - 4/6 - CAL - 2/7
Penalties - UCLA - 0/0 - CAL - 1/1
UCLA Saves: Alex Wolf 11
CAL Goals: Luca Cupido 4, Vassilis Tzavaras 2, Johnny Hooper 1, Odysseas Masmanidis 1
CAL Saves: Kevin Le Vine 17
Players Mentioned
C
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ATK
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ATK
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ATK
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UTL
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ATK
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ATK
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