Berekely, Calif. - The No. 4 Pacific men's water polo downed Air Force, 15-7, in the first round of the annual NorCal tournament at Cal's Mountain Pacific Invitational Friday. Engin Ege Colak scored a career-high five goals, while Tim Reeves added a hat trick.
Luke Pavillard and Aleksandar Petrovic added two goals each while Decker Dempsey, Lucas Hastie and Devon Thumwood all also scored.
Alen Osmanovic recorded 13 saves in goal as he, and the Tigers, improved to 10-0 this season.
Pacific finished 5-for-7 on the power player, while holding Air Force to a 1-for-4 rate with the man advantage.
Air Force opened the scoring with a goal from Bryce Leiter before Reeves tied the game at 1-1 off an assist from Ikko Saito.
In the second quarter, Petrovic gave the Tigers a 2-1 lead, but Eric Curia answered back for the Falcons. Colak's first put Pacific on top, 3-2, but once again Air Force answered. Curia's second goal gave the Falcons a 4-3 lead before Thumwood knotted the game at 4-4 headed into the third.
Colak put Pacific in front, 5-4, with Pavillard tallying for a two-goal margin. Hastie, Reeves and Colak added third-quarter goals as the Tigers posted a 5-0 third period to seize control, 9-4.
Petrovic, Colak and Dempsey stretched the margin to 12-4, before Pavillard, Colak and Reeves tacked on for the 15-7 win.
Pacific advances to the quarters, where the Tigers will face No. 5 Stanford in the quarterfinals at 9:25 a.m. Saturday at Cal's Spieker Pool.