Los Angeles - The No. 2 Pacific men's water polo team were denied by Lazar Andric and No. 3 California in the MPSF Championship semifinals as the Bears took a 7-5 win Saturday at USC. Alex Obert scored three goals for Pacific, while Aleksandar Petrovic and Devon Thumwood each scored for the Tigers.
Cal goalie Lazar Andric recorded 20 saves in goal, three off the MPSF record (for all games) and the Bears defense held the Tigers to 0-for-12 with the man advantage. Pacific falls to 23-4 overall, with three losses to Cal (and one to No. 1 UCLA). Cal improves to 23-5 and heads to the MPSF Championship game against UCLA. The Tigers will face No. 4 USC in the third place game at 3 p.m.
Brady Moore recorded 10 saves in goal for Pacific.
Obert opened the scoring with his fourth goal of the tournament at the 5:17 mark. The Bears answered back with a goal from Timothy Simenc just under two minutes later. After a goal from Odysseas Masmanidis gave Cal the lead, Petrovic tied the game with 50 seconds left in the quarter. But Cal added a five-meter penalty shot to lead 3-2 after one.
In the second, Obert accepted a pass from Petrovic and finished from the two-meter to tie the game at 3-3. But Cal's Chandler Jarrels-Stickney converted a bar-down goal with 14 seconds left in the half to give the Bears the lead at the break. The Tigers failed to convert on three-straight 6-on-5s, and Colin Mulcahy scored on another Cal five-meter penalty for a 5-3 lead.
Obert set up Thumwood for a goal just after a 6-on-5 ended as the Tigers pulled within one at 5-4 with 4:06 left in the third. Andric saved a five-meter penalty, but Obert drew another penalty shot and finished to the right side to tie the game at 5-5 with 2:17 left in the quarter. But Luca Cupido beat the clock with a goal with six seconds left in the quarter as the Bears led 6-5 headed into the fourth.
Odysseas Masmanidis picked up a goal with 1:35 left to go for the first two-goal lead of the game.
The Tigers attempted 35 shots on the day, 22 stopped by Andric, five hit the post or cross bar, and just one missed the cage.
Pacific will face No. 4 USC in the third place game at 3 p.m. in the Trojans home pool.
