University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA
MPSF Tournament
Men's Water Polo Advances To Championship Game Of MPSF Tournament
November 25, 2000 | Men's Water Polo
Nov. 25, 2000
LOS ALAMITOS- The No. 2 UCLA men's water polo team advanced to the Championship game of the MPSF Water Polo Tournament with their 9-4 win over Pepperdine this evening. Sean Kern scored four goals for UCLA, who improves to 20-3 overall. Pepperdine drops to 13-12.
The Waves opened the scoring first when Peter Joseph scored for Pepperdine. A minute later, Andy Bailey stole the ball and drove the length of the pool. He passed to Kern who put it past Pepperdine goalkeeper Michael Soltis. Chris Tilden scored for Pepperdine to give the Waves a 2-1 lead after the first period.
Greg Lonzo scored at 6:32 of the second period to give Pepperdine a 3-1 lead. The Bruins then began their comeback. UCLA scored four goals in less than three minutes to take a 5-3 lead at 1:54. Lonzo scored from ten meters out with three seconds left in the second period to cut the lead to 5-4 at halftime.
Kern scored UCLA's only goal in the third period to extend the Bruin lead to 6-4. Matt Flesher, Kern and Brian Brown added insurance goals in the fourth quarter and Brandon Brooks made three saves in the period.
"We're happy that we overcame a 2-0 deficit and were able to pull off a win by over four goals to get into the finals. We came into this tournament to win this thing to get into the NCAA Championships which would be the ultimate goal," said freshman Albert Garcia.
UCLA will take on California in the championship game on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. The Bears upset No. 1 seed UC Irvine 9-7 in overtime to advance to the title game. The winner of the MPSF tournament earns an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament which will be held at Pepperdine next weekend.
Pepperdine: Greg Lonzo 2, Peter Joseph, Chris Tilden.
#2 UCLA (20-3) 1 4 1 3= 9
#6 Pepperdine (13-12) 2 2 0 0= 4
UCLA: Sean Kern 4, Brian Brown 2, Dave Parker, Matt Flesher, Andy Bailey.
Saves: Pepperdine- Michael Soltis, 8. UCLA - Brandon Brooks, 7.
