Davis, Calif. - The No. 5 Pacific men's water polo team smothered No. 10 UC Davis, 15-4, jumping out to an 11-0 lead before coasting home Sunday at the Aggie Roundup.
Krisztian Laczkovic and Alex Obert each posted hat tricks while Aleksandar Petrovic, Tim Reeves and Devon Thumwood each scored twice. Kale Ai, J.T. Sarmento, and Ben Stevenson also provided goals to round out the Tigers' scorers.
Brady Moore made 14 saves in goal as Pacific improves to 10-1 on the season and remains unbeaten in regulation.
Reeves opened the scoring with an even-strength goal off an assist from Laczkovics. After Moore posted a pair of saves, Laczkovics converted a long outlet pass from Moore to stretch the margin to 2-0. Petrovic and Ai picked up back-to-back goals, with Petrovic finishing a 6-on-5 opportunity. Obert capped the first quarter scoring by hitting the back off the net off a pass from Stevenson for a 5-0 lead after one. The Tigers scored five goals on eight shots in the first quarter.
Fleming and Reeves scored in the second quarter, and Thumwood tacked on a goal with under there minutes left in the period to stretch the lead to 8-0. Sarmento finished a feed from Ai with 50 seconds left in the period, and Moore posted his ninth save as the Tigers took a 9-0 lead into halftime.
Obert's second goal ran the Tigers lead to 11-0 before Riley Venne finally cracked the scoreboard for UC Davis, snapping the shutout streak in the game at 22:41. The Aggies added a second goal from Sasa Antunovic before the end of the third.
Laczkovics posted his second goal of the game, and UC Davis' Austin Beckwith responded on the ensuing possession. Tennyson May cut Pacific's lead to 12-4 before Laczkovics and Obert each completed their hat tricks. Thumwood posted his second goal of the game off an assist from Ikko Saito
The Tigers scored on 15 of 29 shots (51.7 percent) while holding UC Davis to four goals on 33 shots (12.1 percent).
Pacific had previously posted a 13-1 win over No. 10 UC San Diego, and held the Tritons scoreless for the final 24:03, giving Pacific's defense a shutout streak of 46:44 over teams ranked No. 10.
The Tigers will open MPSF play next Sunday, October 4, at No. 6 UC Santa Barbara.
