No. 3 Cal Nips No. 6 Pacific Men's Water Polo, 11-9

Los Alamitos, Calif. - The No. 6 Pacific men's water polo team fell to No. 3 No. 3 Cal, 11-9, Saturday in at the 2011 SoCal Tournament as the Golden Bears came from behind for a fourth-quarter victory.

Despite three goals from senior Tom Koning and two from sophomore Balazs Erdelyi, the Tigers fall to 7-4 on the season.

Tied 5-5 at the half, Pacific tallied three goals in the third quarter for a 8-6 lead, but Cal tallied five goals in the final frame for the 11-9 win.

Erdelyi got the Tigers on the board in the first quarter with a goal to tie the match at 1-1 and after Koning's first goal, Erdelyi gave Pacific a 3-1 lead. Cal pulled within one with 40 seconds left in the frame, on a goal from Collin Smith.

The Tigers stretched the lead to 4-2 after a goal by junior Goran Tomasevic, but Cal tallied twice in 40 seconds to knot the match up at 4-4. Pacific's redshirt senior Todd Hazen and Cal's Luka Saponjic traded 6-on-5 goals to send the match into intermission tied at 5-5.

Pacific opened the third quarter with goals from redshirt senior Jasper Visser and junior Balazs Szabo, but Cal answered with a Hunter Gettelfinger goal to send the match into the final quarter at 8-6 Pacific.

Back-to-back goals from Cal knotted things up with 6:22 remaining, and after Koning tallied again to give the Tigers a 9-8 lead, the Golden Bears came back to take the lead on goals from Charlie Steffens and Smith.

Pacific had two 6-on-5 Exclusion opportunities but couldn't convert for the equalizer and Cory Nasoff netted the insurance goal for Cal with 1:47 remaining.

Sophomore goalie Alex Malkis recorded 10 saves for Pacific, while Cal's Justin Parsons picked up 14 as the Golden Bears improve to 10-1.

The Tigers will face No. 8 UC Santa Barbara on Sunday at 9:50 a.m.

	1st Q	2nd Q	3rd Q	4th Q	FINAL
Cal	2	3	1	5	11
Pacific	3	2	3	1	9

Goals

Cal – Hunter Gettelfinger (2), Ivan Rackov (2), Luka Saponjic (2), Collin Smith (2), Charlie Steffens (2), Cory Nasoff

Pacific – Tom Koning (3), Balazs Erdelyi (2), Todd Hazen, Jaspar Visser, Balazs Szabo, Goran Tomasevic

Goalkeeper Saves

Cal – Justin Parsons 14

Pacific - Alex Malkis 10