Stockton, Calif. - The No. 7 Pacific men's water polo team battled back from a three-goal deficit but were unable to pull out the win, falling to No. 8 UC Irvine 10-9 Saturday, October 29, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match at Kjeldsen Pool.
The loss drops the Tigers to 9-8 on the year and 0-3 in league play. UC Irvine now sits at 13-8 and 1-3 in the MPSF.
Senior Tom Koning put Pacific on top early in the first, scoring at the 6:49 mark. The Anteaters would score the next three goals to take a 3-1 lead before sophomore Balazs Erdelyi netted with 2:59 left to stop the visitors' run. UC Irvine freshman Jacob Mourer scored with just five seconds left in the frame to give the Anteaters a 4-2 lead.
The two squads traded scores throughout the second quarter as UC Irvine extended its lead to three scores a trio of times, each of which was answered by a Pacific goal. Senior Daniel Lungu scored a pair of goals in the frame while junior Goran Tomasevic also finished for the Tigers. Lungu's second goal of the quarter cut the visitors' lead to 7-5 heading into intermission.
Lungu continued to dominate after halftime, scoring consecutive goals to tie the match at 7-7 with 6:54 left in the third. Pacific finally broke through on a goal from senior Joey Doyle at the 4:05 mark, giving the Tigers their first lead since Koning's goal in the first quarter. It would be short lived, however, as UC Irvine score twice to take back the lead. The second goal came with just 12 seconds on the clock as the Anteaters took a 9-8 advantage into the final period.
UC Irvine padded their lead with another score at the 6:00 mark to go up by two. Tomasevic managed to find the back of the cage for a second time with 1:33 left but Pacific came up empty on its final possession as the visitors ran out the clock.
Lungu recorded a game-high four goals on the day, his second multi-goal game of the season. Tomasevic added a pair of scores while Erdelyi extended his scoring streak to 14 consecutive matches.
Sophomore goalkeeper Alex Malkis recorded 10 saves in a complete-game outing.
UC Irvine was led by Mourer's hat trick while senior Trent Baxter and sophomore Mitch Wise scored twice. Wise entered the match with an MPSF-leading 56 goals on the year. Freshman Michael Bailey manned the cage for the Anteaters, registering seven blocks.
The Tigers are back in action tomorrow as they travel to No. 15 Santa Clara for a nonconference match at 12 p.m.
| |
1st Q |
2nd Q |
3rd Q |
4th Q |
FINAL |
| UC Irvine |
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
10 |
| Pacific |
2 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
9 |
Goals
UC Irvine - Mourer 3, Baxter 2, Wise 2, Parrague, Pfiel, Pickford
Pacific - Lungu 4, Tomasevic 2, Doyle, Erdelyi, Koning
Saves
UC Irvine - Bailey 7
Pacific - Malkis 10
