Davis, Calif.----- There was no let down from a San Jose State University men's water polo team when it jumped into the Schaal Aquatics Center pool for its return match against No. 4 ranked Cal on the second day of the Aggie RoundUp.
The No. 11 Spartans were on the short end of an 11-10 sudden victory decision to No. 8 UC Davis to close out first day action.
But San Jose State put the past behind them, stayed even with Cal through the first quarter and staged a second-half rally before losing to the Golden Bears, 11-9.
A pair of two-goal outbursts in the first two minutes of the second and third quarters was enough to give Cal (9-0) opportunities to hold two four-goal leads in the third quarter and a 10-6 advantage early in the fourth before San Jose State (2-7) battled back and gave the Golden Bears food for thought.
The Spartans had their chances throughout the contest to make a real dent on the scoreboard via the power play. But, San Jose State converted on just 1-of-16 chances, a goal by Mark Kis in the third quarter to keep the Spartans close at 6-4. Conversely, Cal was slightly better on its power play going 2-for-8. Roberto Valera's power-play score for the Golden Bears with 2:55 in the match turned out to be a Cal insurance goal.
San Jose State had lost to Cal earlier in the season, 16-7. The Golden Bears' 11 goals are the fewest Cal has scored in a 2021 match.
Credit Spartan goalkeeper Yahav Fire with keeping San Jose State in contention for its first over Cal since the program was reinstated in 2015. Fire doused 16 of 27 Golden Bears' shots on goal, his second best single-game saves total of the season.
Neil Arnett was the only multi-goal scorer for San Jose State with two. His first-quarter power play goal sent the two teams into the second quarter tied, 2-2.
San Jose State concludes its three days of the Aggie RoundUp on Sunday, September 19 taking on unranked Redlands College at 10:00 a.m. and No. 14-Santa Clara at 1:00 p.m. The Spartans have a 16-6 win over Santa Clara on September 11.
Aggie RoundUp men's water polo tournament
No. 11 San Jose State (2-7) vs. No. 4 California (9-0)
Schaal Aquatics Center, Davis, Calif.
September 18, 2021
|
Score By Quarters |
Total |
| No. 11 San Jose State (2-7) |
2-1-3-3 |
9 |
| No. 4 California (9-0) |
2-4-3-2 |
11 |
| Goal scoring |
| San Jose State – Neil Arnett, 2; Marko Radonovich, Mark Kis, Gal Haimovich, Adam Bado, Neils Hofmeijer, Tomasso Ramacciotti, Bende Pardi, 1, each. |
| California – Roberto Valera, 3; Max Casabella, Nikolaos Papanikolaou, Miles O'Brien-Schridde, 2, each; Garrett Dunn, Nikos Delagrammatikas, 1, each. |
| Goalkeeper saves |
| San Jose State – Yahav Fire, 16. |
| California – Adrian Weinberg, 12. |
| Ejections |
| San Jose State – 9. |
| California – 17. |
