No. 2 Bears Roll Past No. 8 UC Santa Barbara

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The No. 2 California men's water polo team moved to 12-1 on the season as it defeated No. 8 UC Santa Barbara, 11-6, Sunday afternoon at UCSB's Campus Pool in Santa Barbara. The Bears move to 2-0 against the Gauchos this year, having bested them 16-6 in the second round of last week's MPSF Invite at Stanford.

Sophomore attacker Jake Howerton finished with four points, notching his third hat trick of the season and adding an assist. Two of his goals came 38 seconds apart in the final minute of the third quarter to widen Cal's margin heading into the final period.

Junior center Nikolaos Papanikolaou had three goals to bring his season total to 34, second in the MPSF. He added three drawn exclusions and a steal in the effort.

Junior goalkeeper Adrian Weinberg recorded 10 saves. He is averaging 8.67 saves per game this season.

The Bears will host the annual alumni game next Saturday at 10 a.m. before a midweek matchup against No. UC Davis Wednesday, Oct. 12 at 6 p.m. at Spieker Aquatics Complex in Berkeley.

No. 2(T) Cal 11, No. 8 UCSB 6
UCSB 2 1 1 2
Cal 3 3 4 1
UCSB Goals: Sam Nangle 2, Mason Chambliss, Sam McKenzie, Brock Zamanian, Hayes Beamon
Cal Goals: Nikolaos Papanikolaou 3, Jake Howerton 3, Max Casabella 2, Albert Ponferrada, Jordi Gascon, Nik Mirkovic
UCSB Saves: Danny Rowland 9
Cal Saves: Adrian Weinberg 10