No. 3 UCLA Advances to Semifinals with 11-8 Win Over No. 6 UCSB
STOCKTON, Calif. -- The third-seeded UCLA men's water polo team advanced to the semifinals of the 2013 MPSF Tournament with an 11-8 win over No. 6 UC Santa Barbara on Friday afternoon at Pacific's Chris Kjeldsen Aquatics Complex. The Bruins improved to 28-2 overall while the Gauchos dropped to 16-10. UCLA will face No. 2 Stanford in the second semifinal tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.
Freshman Chancellor Ramirez, sophomore Danny McClintick and senior Aimone Barabino each scored two goals to lead the Bruins. Eric Van de Mortel led the Gauchos with four goals.
UCLA jumped out to a 2-0 lead on back-to-back goals at set from Barabino (5:43 and 3:51). After Van de Mortel's power play goal made it 2-1, freshman Gordon Marshall pushed the lead to 3-1 (2:54) with another goal from two meters for the Bruins. Van de Mortel trimmed the lead to 3-2 (2:31), but the Bruins ended the first quarter with two more goals. Junior Daniel Lenhart scored an exclusion goal (1:52) and McClintick added a score from the front court (:23) to give UCLA a 5-2 lead at the end of one.
The Gauchos stormed back in the second period, winning it 4-2. UCSB scored three straight to tie the game at 5-5. Ramirez scored from the front court to give the Bruins a 6-5 lead at the 2:55 mark of the second quarter. Derek Shoemaker tied it at 6-6 with a power play goal (1:48), but Ramirez answered with his second straight from the front court (1:24) to give the Bruins a 7-6 lead at the break.
Van de Mortel tied it at 7-7 to open the third period with his fourth goal of the game (7:14). But the Bruins reeled off three unanswered goals to take a 10-7 lead into the fourth quarter. Redshirt junior Cristiano Mirarchi put the Bruins ahead 8-7 with a goal from the front court (6:47), followed by a power play goal from freshman Ryder Roberts (5:39). Senior Chris Wendt scored from distance to put UCLA up 10-7 (1:45) to end the scoring in the third..
McClintick scored the Bruins' fourth straight goal on a power play (4:53) to push the lead to 11-7. Bryce Miller provided the final score of 11-8 with a front court goal with :57 remaining.
Redshirt freshman Garrett Danner made the start in the cage for UCLA and played the entire contest, registering a career-high 15 saves. Chris Whitelegge was credited with seven stops in the cage for UCSB.
No. 6 UCSB vs. No. 3 UCLA
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F | |
| No. 6 UCSB | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| No. 3 UCLA | 5 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 11 |
UCSB Goals: Eric Van de Mortel 4, Matt Gronow, Bryce Miller, Derek Shoemaker, Kevin Cappon
UCSB Saves: Chris Whitelegge 7
UCLA Goals: Danny McClintick 2, Aimone Barabino 2, Chancellor Ramirez 2, Anthony Daboub, Ryder Roberts, Chris Wendt, Gordon Marshall, Cristiano Mirarchi
UCLA Saves: Garrett Danner 15