BERKELEY, Calif. – The #6 Pacific men's water polo team (22-6) is advancing to the semifinals of the NCAA tournament after defeating #5 UC Davis 11-7 on Thursday.

"Offense wins games, defense wins championship games, and we know that," said Head Coach James Graham. "We have to come here and bring the same level of defense that we brought at GCCs, and even take it up one notch. Super proud of the guys and great win today."

Sophomore Mihailo Vukazic led the Tigers with four goals. He was followed by senior co-captain Jeremie Cote who scored a hattrick in the first quarter to give the Tigers early momentum. Senior Bogdan Djerkovic found the back of the net twice for the Tigers. Senior Djordje Stanic and junior Flynn Howarth each dented the twine once for Pacific.

"I think the guys have enormous amounts of confidence right now. They're playing their best water polo of the season," said Graham. "It was huge to have Jeremie come out of the gate, scoring three goals in a row, and get an early hat trick. That really set the tone for the team and what we needed to do. And then, we focused on the third quarter. That's that championship quarter you feel is critical, the linchpin, between the first half and the fourth quarter. And those guys came out and really separated in that third quarter, and that was the difference in the game to me."

Sophomore co-captain Reuel D'Souza and Stanic each had an assist for Pacific.

Djerkovic ensured the Tigers had the advantage, earning six drawn exclusions. Stanic earned another three for the Tigers. D'Souza drew two exclusions, and senior Rene Peralta drew one.

Stanic was a force to be reckoned with on defense, collecting three field blocks. Vukazic and D'Souza each had two, and senior Calvin Behm had one.

"That's the feeling that I cannot explain because you know that you stopped a goal," said Stanic regarding getting a filed block. "You know you are one step closer to winning the game because you see the goal and have an opportunity to score on the other end. I love that feeling, and every time we make a field block, we're going to have the same energy, and we have to keep it like that to win the game and have the defense we had today."

Vukazic had three steals to keep the ball in the Tigers' possession. Peralta had one.

"The energy that you saw from the team today, the excitement that they had each time we got a stop, the way they played together, communicated, that's the type of stuff that we're going to need to be able to make a deep run this weekend," said Graham.

Senior Matthew Hosmer and Vukazic each had a sprint win for the Tigers.

Graduate student goalkeeper Bae Fountain had eight saves in net for the Tigers and stole the ball from the Aggies twice.

"I think I stopped the saves that I should have stopped," said Fountain. "The ones that went in, it's just a little collapse in communication and knowing where to be at the right time. But, as a whole, the defense was crazy. I loved it. That's the stuff I thrive off, so having a team that can play good defense like that makes my job so much easier."

The Tigers take on the #2 Cal Bears on Saturday, Dec. 3, at 2 p.m. in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament.