Senior John Filipponi looks to pass the ball against UC San Diego on Saturday in the Southern California Tournament. Yulian Danusastro

Junior Brad Scoles keeps the ball away from the defender during Saturday's 13-3 loss against No.1 Stanford in the So. Calif. Tourney. Yulian Danusastro

 

49ers go 1-3 in tourney, gets humbled by No. 1 Stanford

By Moria Khou
Online Forty-Niner
Staff Writer

The men's water polo team finished with a 1-3 performance in the pool at the Southern California Tournament over the weekend, bringing their overall record to 4-4.

Twenty teams participated in the two-day water polo tournament hosted by USC. The games were played at two different venues, on-campus at the McDonald's Swim Stadium and at an off-site pool, the Commerce Pool.

With one second remaining, the No. 7 49ers fell to No. 12 UC San Diego, 10-9, in the Saturday morning opener at Commerce.

Junior Brad Scoles' fourth goal of the game came with only nine seconds to play in the fourth period, and tied the score at 9-9 for the 49ers. However, the Tritons' Chris Finegold found the back of the net just as time expired to give UC San Diego the victory.

Brett McCleave and Stefan Ludecke finished with two goals apiece, while John Filiponni scored once for the 49ers.

In the afternoon match, The Beach played the underdog role against No.1 Stanford. The game was decided in the first quarter as the Cardinals scored six times to take a commanding 6-1 advantage over the 49ers.

Stanford never looked back as they overpowered The Beach 13-3. The 49ers were shut out in the second half as the Cardinals proved to everyone why they are atop the polls.

Scoles, Jay Gerardi and redshirt freshman Brian Staudenbaur from San Clemente paced the 49ers with a goal apiece. For Staudenbaur, it was his first goal as a 49er.

Looking to redeem the two loses on Saturday, the 49ers dove into the pool Sunday morning against No. 20 Cal Baptist.

The game was even at 2-2 after a quarter of play, but with three goals in the second period, the 49ers took a 5-1 lead into the intermission. The 49ers' goalkeeper Thomas Onyshko recorded eight saves, and outplayed Cal Baptist's goalkeeper Jon Miller, who had six saves, as the 49ers won its first game of the tournament 9-6.

Seven 49ers scored in the contest led by sophomore driver Reid Tomassi with three goals. Junior and Long Beach City College transfer, Satoshi Sakata from Yokohama, Japan found the net for the first time as a 49er, while McCleave, Scoles, Filipponi, Wenger and Markle all chipped in with a goal apiece.

The earlier victory against Cal Baptist placed The Beach in the ninth place game against Loyola Marymount University during the afternoon session.

The Lions once again edged out the 49ers 8-7 in a contest that saw double-overtime action. This was the 49ers' second one-point loss of the tournament, the first by UC San Diego.

LMU put the ball past 49ers' goalkeeper Onyshko twice in fourth quarter to go into the extra session at 6-6. The Lions led by Endre Rex-Kiss's goal in the first and second overtime period defeated the 49ers.

Rex-Kiss had a game-high four goals, while Gerardi led all 49ers with two goals.

The 49ers will resume play Sunday, at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. with a double-header against Redlands and Chapman at the campus pool.

Note: No. 2-ranked USC Trojan's defeated top seeded Stanford 8-6 to win the Southern California Tournament.