Stockton, Calif. - The No. 1 Pacific men's water polo team cruised to a 16-8 win over No. 9 UC Irvine Saturday at Kjeldsen Pool behind six goals from Balazs Erdelyi and a career-high five from Krisztian Laczkovics.
Kevin Oliveira added three goals while Goran Tomasevic and Alex Obert also scored.
The Tigers improve to 19-3 overall on the season, and 6-1 in MPSF action. The Tigers can clinch a share of their first MPSF regular season title with a win next Saturday.
Pacific fell behind 1-0 on a goal by UC Irvine's #5 before Laczkovics tallied to tie the score and again at the 4:40 mark to give the Tigers the lead.
Oliveira, Erdelyi and Tomasevic also got on the board in the first quarter as the Tigers led 5-1 after one period.
In the second, after an Irvine goal, Erdelyi tallied three times and Laczkovics posted his third goal of the game, while Obert also got in on the act as the Tigers stretched their lead to 10-3.
UC Irvine posted three-straight goals to pull within 10-6 before Laczkovics found the back of the net again and Erdelyi closed the quarter with a goal with 12 seconds left to put Pacific up six.
Oliveira piled on in the fourth with a pair of goals, while Erdelyi and Laczkovics each tacked on one more goal to cap the scoring.
Alex Malkis posted 16 saves in net for the Tigers.
Pacific will wrap the regular season next Saturday, at noon, against No. 7 Long Beach State at home, before the MPSF Tournament at Kjeldsen Pool November 29-December 1.
Scoring Summary
1st
UCI: #5 Mitch Wise (0-1, 7:16)
PAC: #3 Krisztian Laczkovics (1-1, 6:34)
PAC: #3 Krisztian Laczkovics (2-1, 4:40)
PAC: #21 Kevin Oliveira (3-1, 3:51)
PAC: #9 Balazs Erdelyi (4-1, 1:44)
PAC: #2 Goran Tomasevic (5-1, 0:49)
2nd
UCI: #5 Mitch Wise (5-2, 6:59)
PAC: #9 Balazs Erdelyi (6-2, 6:37)
PAC: #3 Krisztian Laczkovics (7-2, 5:59)
PAC: #9 Balazs Erdelyi (8-2, 5:08)
PAC: #4 Alex Obert (9-2, 2:59)
UCI: #6 Bojan Hrlec (9-3, 0:12)
PAC: #9 Balazs Erdelyi (10-3, 0:05)
3rd
UCI: #10 Tyler Mancuso (10-4, 6:31)
UCI: #6 Bojan Hrlec (10-5, 3:51)
UCI: #15 Kyle Kittlitz (10-6, 3:35)
PAC: #3 Krisztian Laczkovics (11-6, 0:46)
PAC: #9 Balazs Erdelyi (12-6, 0:12)
4th
PAC: #21 Kevin Oliveira (13-6, 7:37)
UCI: #5 Mitch Wise (13-7, 7:19)
PAC: #21 Kevin Oliveira (14-7, 6:53)
PAC: #9 Balazs Erdelyi (15-7, 3:01)
UCI: #4 Alan Robertson (15-8, 2:24)
PAC: #3 Krisztian Laczkovics (16-8, 2:02)
Saves By Period
UCI: Dylan Peterson - 2 - 1 - 1 - 2 -- 6
PAC: Alex Malkis - 2 - 5 - 3 - 2 -- 12
Goals By Period
UCI: 1 - 5 - 3 - 2 -- 8
PAC: 5 - 5 - 2 - 4 -- 16
