No. 3 UCLA Wins Sixth MPSF Championship

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LOS ANGELES -- No. 3 UCLA (19-3) won the 2021 MPSF Men's Water Polo Championship on Sunday afternoon with an 11-10 win at No. 4 Stanford (19-6) at Avery Aquatic Center. The win marked the Bruins' sixth MPSF Championship in history while UCLA improved to 78-89 in the series history. It also marked the Bruins' fourth consecutive win over Stanford (3-0 this season).

Redshirt senior Felix Brozyna-Vilim had a game-high-tying three scores and added one assist to tally four points. Graduate Chasen Travisano also registered four points (one goal and three assists) to help pace the Bruins' offense. Senior Jake Cavano and junior Tommy Gruwell each had three points (two goals and one assist).

Junior Bernardo Maurizi got the start in the cage and went the distance, registering nine saves. Maurizi and the Bruin defense held Stanford to 2-for-8 on power play opportunities and 1-for-2 on penalty shots.

PERIOD ONE
> Stanford outscored UCLA 2-1 in the opening period.
> After the Cardinal got on the board first with a power play goal (2:32), Cavano evened things up on the next possession (2:13) with a shot from the front court.
> Stanford regained the lead off a goal from Jackson Painter (0:53).
 
PERIOD TWO
> The Bruins outscored the Cardinal 5-0 in the second period to build a 6-2 lead at the break.
> Brozyna-Vilim scored a power play goal (6:45) that was assisted by Gruwell to tie the game at 2-2.
> Freshman Chase Dodd gave the Bruins their first lead at 3-2 at the 5:08 mark (Cavano with the assist).
> Gruwell then scored back-to-back goals (2:34 and 1:47) to extend the lead to 5-2.
> Then after two consecutive assists on the goals by Gruwell, Travisano called his own number off a feed from redshirt sophomore Jack Larsen (0:54) to end the scoring in the first half.
 
PERIOD THREE
> The Bruins were outscored 4-2 in the third period to take an 8-6 lead into the final stanza.
> UCLA looked like it was going to run away with the win after redshirt freshman Gianpiero Di Martire opened the scoring in the third (7:07) to put the Bruins up 7-2.
> After the Cardinal got back-to-back goals (6:40 and 5:02), Brozyna-Vilim scored his second (4:08) to double-up the Cardinal 8-4.
> Stanford ended the quarter with two more goals (3:56 and 1:27) to trim the lead to two.

PERIOD FOUR
> The Cardinal outscored UCLA 4-3 to provide the 11-10 final.
> Every time Stanford scored, the Bruins had an answer in the fourth quarter. Stanford cut it to 8-7 (7:04), but redshirt senior Evan Rosenfeld scored on a back-handed shot from two meters (5:54) to push the lead to two at 9-7.
> After another goal by Stanford (3:39), Cavano found the back of the net for the second time (2:07) to make it 10-8.
> Stanford would make it 10-9 (1:41), but Brozyna-Vilim completed his hat trick on a back-handed goal at set (1:02) to make it 11-9.
> Quinn Woodhead scored (0:18) to cut the Bruins' lead to 11-10, but UCLA ran out the final 18 seconds to seal the win.

UP NEXT
The Bruins will find out tonight via press release on NCAA.com what their seed will be. UCLA is hosting the 2021 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship on Dec. 4-5. The Bruins might also host the NCAA play-in games on Dec. 2. The seeds for the entire field with dates/times/location of each game will be announced this evening.
 

No. 3 UCLA at No. 4 Stanford (2021 MPSF Championship - Finals)

6x5 - UCLA - 3/8 - STAN - 2/8
Penalties - UCLA - 0/0 - STAN - 1/2

UCLA Goals: Felix Brozyna-Vilim 3, Jake Cavano 2, Tommy Gruwell 2, Evan Rosenfeld 1, Chase Dodd 1, Gianpiero Di Martire 1, Chasen Travisano 1
UCLA Saves: Bernardo Maurizi 9

STAN Goals: Tyler Abramson 3, Quinn Woodhead 2, AJ Rossman 1, Beck Jurasius 1, Walker Seymour 1, Ike Love 1, Jackson Painter 1
STAN Saves: Nolan Krutonog 8