Sept. 16, 2015
Moving up one position in the Men's Varsity Water Polo Top 20 poll, the San José State Spartans men's team is tied with Brown University for 13th in week two of the national rankings.
After a tough loss to No. 10 UC Davis Aggies on Saturday, September 12, the Spartans (1-1) focus their attention on the NorCal Invitational at Stanford University on Saturday and Sunday, September 19 and 20.
San José State will play four matches at the NorCal tournament, opening the weekend against undefeated Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opponent No. 3, California Golden Bears (5-0).
"Cal has a very good team. Their best player is a member of the USA Olympic team and they have a couple of All-Americans," said Spartans' Head Coach Bruce Watson. "We are going to find out which of our guys can stand up to the challenge and play at that level."
The Spartans defense is led by goalkeeper Matej Matijevic, who has 34 total saves this season. Matijevic leads the MPSF in saves per game, averaging 19.09 saves a game.
"Matijevic is a skilled player but the players in front of him need to mature and develop. It's going to take some time and hopefully we get better every week," said Watson.
San José States 2-meter defenders Akos Balazs and Blake Grove are making the necessary adjustments and are improving on defense, said Watson.
Driver Justin Contreras leads SJSU with six goals in two matches and is ranked fourth in the MPSF in goals per game, averaging three per. Rounding out the Spartans' top scorers are 2-meter defenders Igor Miljan, with three goals, and Vladimir Kazanskiy, with two.
The Golden Bears top scorer is Colin Mulcahy with 17 goals, followed by Odysseas Masmanidis with 14 and Johnny Hooper with 11. Mulcahy is third in goals per game in the MPSF.
Goalkeeper Lazar Andric has 37 saves in the cage for Cal, allowing 25 goals.
The Spartans will face-off against No. 6 UC Santa Barbara or No. 16 Air Force in their second match on Saturday. San José State's opponents on Sunday will be decided after Saturday's results.
Watson will join Justin Allegri and football head coach Ron Caragher for the 1590 KLIV Coaches' Show at Famous Dave's in the Plant shopping center on Wednesday, September 16, at 6 p.m.
by Brian S. Stanley, SJSU athletics media relations student assistant
Rank | Team | PR | Points |
1 | University of California-Los Angeles | 1 | 99 |
2 | University of Southern California | 2 | 95 |
3 | University of California | 3 | 90 |
4 | Stanford University | 4 | 86 |
5 | University of the Pacific | 5 | 82 |
6 | University of California-Santa Barbara | 6 | 74 |
7 | Long Beach State University | 7 | 69 |
8 | University of California-Irvine | 8 | 62 |
9 | Pepperdine University | 10 | 56 |
10 (T) | University of California-San Diego | 9 | 53 |
10 (T) | University of California-Davis | 12 | 53 |
12 | Princeton University | 11 | 49 |
13 (T) | Brown University | 13 | 32 |
13 (T) | San Jose State University | 14 | 32 |
15 | United States Naval Academy | 15 | 28 |
16 | United States Air Force Academy | 16 | 24 |
17 | Bucknell University | 17 | 20 |
18 | Johns Hopkins University | 18 (T) | 11 |
19 | Whittier College | 18 (T) | 8 |
20 (T) | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 20 | 5 |
20 (T) | California Baptist University | RV | 5 |