Sept. 16, 2006
Palo Alto, Calif.: The No.8 ranked Pacific men's water polo team defeated No. 13 ranked Long Beach State 14-12, then fell to No. 4 Stanford 9-6 at day one of the NorCal Tournament. The Tigers are now 7-4 on the season, and will face either No. 1 Cal or No. 5 UC San Diego in second round action at 8:30am on Sunday, September 17th.
Against Long Beach State, the Tigers led 5-4 after one period of play as junior Duje Kaurloto (Split, Croatia) scored two 6-on-5 power play goals and senior co-captain Matt Turnbull (Act, Australia) added two goals of his own. Pacific then outscored Long Beach State 4-2 in the second period as Kaurloto added two additional goals, and the Tigers got a goal a piece from Turnbull and sophomore Will Milcovich (Walnut Creek, Calif.) to take a 9-6 halftime advantage.
The 49ers came out firing after the break, outscoring the Tigers 5-2 in the third, led by two goals from Clint Wilson, to tie the game at 11-11 entering the fourth. In the final period Pacific scored three straight goals to pull away from Long Beach State. Turnbull scored the Tigers first goal, and then Kaurloto scored on a five-meter penalty and a 6-on-5 power play to give the Tigers a 14-11, before a late goal by the 49ers made the final outcome 14-12.
Against the Cardinal, Pacific started the scoring as junior All-American Dragan Bakic (Split, Croatia) scored the games first goal to give the Tigers an 1-0. Stanford led 3-2 after the first before junior Andy Skora (San Clemente, Calif.) scored to tie the game up at 3-3 early in the second period. Kaurloto then scored later in the period to give Pacific a 4-3 advantage. The final minute of the period proved exciting as Stanford tied the score with a 6-on-5 goal scored by Drac Wigo which was then answered by Turnbull scoring on a five-meter penalty to regain the lead at 5-4 with :38 seconds left. Janson Wigo then scored with :16 seconds left to tie the score at 5-5 heading into the break.
After intermission, the Cardinal scored the first two goals of the third period to take a 7-5 advantage. Kaurloto then scored his second goal of the game and eighth of the day to pull the Tigers to within one heading into the fourth period. Stanford held Pacific's offense scoreless in the final period, added on a pair of insurance goals to make the final margin 9-6.
Pacific was led by Kaurloto's eight goals on the day, while Turnbull added six. In goal for Pacific, junior Brian Domecus (Vallejo, Calif.) tallied 17 blocks in his first action of the 2006 season.
Pacific: 5 4 2 3 = 14
LBSU: 4 2 5 1 = 12
Goals:
Pacific: Kaurloto 6 (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24), Turnbull 5 (14, 15, 16, 17, 18), Bakic 2 (19, 20), Milcovich (11)
LBSU: Greenwood 4, Gerardi 2, Wilson 2, Buchanan 1, Koeppen 1, Korsgaden 1, Henneman 1
Blocks: Domecus (PAC) 8; MacKenzie (LBSU) 8
Stanford: 3 2 2 2 = 9
Pacific: 2 3 1 1 = 6
Goals
Stanford: J. Wigo 3, D. Wigo 2, Hindle-Katel 2, McCarthy 1, T. Drake 1
Pacific: Kaurloto 2 (25, 26), Bakic 2 (21, 22), Skora (18), Turnbull (19)
Blocks: Hohener (S) 9; Domecus (PAC) 9
