Stockton, Calif. - The No. 3 Pacific men's water polo will head to the NorCal Tournament Saturday as the Tigers tangle with the top teams in the polls.
Pacific opens with the 13 seed, Santa Clara on Saturday morning at 10:50 a.m. at Diablo Valley College. The Broncos are ranked No. 15 in the national polls.
"The NorCal tournament where pretty much all the top teams in the nation converge," head coach James Graham said. "This is going to give us an opportunity through out the tournament to have four really tough games and find out where we are. We get to find an accurate gauge… and from there set our course for the rest of the season."
The Tigers are seeded four seed in the tournament, based off the week one national poll. Pacific was ranked tied for third when the seedings were set, with the tie being broken by the previous poll.
With a win, Pacific will face the winner of the five-seed Stanford (ranked No. 5 in the national polls) and 12-seed UC Davis (No. 12 nationally) at 6:15 p.m. Saturday. The losing teams of Pacific/Santa Clara and Stanford UC Davis will meet at 4:50, with both games also at Diablo Valley College.
Earlier this season, Pacific posted a 19-7 win over Santa Clara in the season opener.
Senior Balázs Erdélyi tallied a season-high seven goals in that contest. Erdélyi leads Pacific with 23 goals this season. The Tigers are outscoring opponents by an average of 20-6 this season.
NorCal Tournament Saturday Schedule/Bracket
FIRST ROUND
(1) USC vs (16) Diablo Valley - 8:00a DVC
(2) UCLA vs (15) Concordia - 8:00a Cal
(7) UC Santa Barbara vs (10) UC San Diego - 9:25a Cal
(8) Pepperdine vs (9) UC Irvine - 9:25a DVC
(3) Cal vs (14) Air Force - 10:50a Cal
(4) Pacific vs (13) Santa Clara - 10:50a DVC
(5) Stanford vs (12) UC Davis - 12:15p DVC
(6) Long Beach St vs (11) Loyola Marymount - 12:15 Cal
SECOND ROUND
1/16 winner vs 8/9 winner - 3:25p DVC
2/15 winner vs 7/10 winner - 3:25p Cal
3/14 winner vs 6/11 winner - 6:15 Cal
4/13 winner vs 5/12 winner - 6:15 DVC
SECOND ROUND CONSOLATION
1/16 loser vs 8/9 loser - 2:00p DVC
2/15 loser vs 7/10 loser - 2:00p Cal
3/14 loser vs 6/11 loser - 4:50 Cal
4/13 loser vs 5/12 loser - 4:50 DVC
