BERKELEY, Calif.----- Bende Pardi scored two of his team-high four goals in the final three minutes leading No. 11-ranked San Jose State to a 14-13 victory over No. 9 UC San Diego on the final day of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Invitational men's water polo tournament.
Pardi, a freshman from Budapest, Hungary, evened the match at 13-13 with 2:35 remaining in regulation play and converted a 5-meter penalty shot with 0:22 to go after Vedran Latkovic of UC San Diego, who led all players with six goals, was whistled for a penalty infraction.
Laszlo Szieben added to the Spartan offense with two of his three goals at the start of the nine-goal fourth quarter by both teams. The Tritons led 10-9 after three periods with neither team leading by more than two at any point in the match.
The win was San Jose State's (7-8) third in a row and fifth in the last six matches. UC San Diego is the highest ranked team the Spartans defeated this season. Nine of San Jose State's 17 matches this season were against top-10 ranked squads.
Yahav Fire was credited with 12 saves in goal for the Spartans including three in the final quarter.
San Jose State heads to Southern California next weekend for three non-conference matches. The Spartans take on No. 1-ranked UCLA on October 2 and Navy and LMU on October 3.
Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Invitational men's water polo tournament
Legends Aquatic Center, Berkeley, Calif.
September 26, 2021
| Scoring Summary | Score By Quarters | Total |
| #11- San Jose State (7-8) | 3-2-4-5 | 14 |
| #9-UC San Diego (9-5) | 4-3-3-3 | 13 |
| Goal scoring |
| San Jose State – Bende Pardi, 4; Laszlo Szieben, 3; Mark Kis, 2; Gal Haimovich, Neil Arnett, Adam Bado, Itay Nemet, Tomasso Ramacciotti, 1, each. |
| UC San Diego – Vedran Latkovic, 6; Calder Hilde-Jones, 3; Kaden Likins, 2; Manuel Agusto, Jack Ranj, 1, each. |
| Goalkeeper saves |
| San Jose State – Yahav Fire, 12. |
| UC San Diego – Alexander Nemeth, 12. |
| Ejections |
| San Jose State – 18. |
| UC San Diego – 17. |