NCAA Water Polo : UCI and Maizel Tend to UCLA : Anteaters Meet No. 1 Stanford in Final After 7-6 Win

Mark Maizel, human wall, paused before answering questions about his extraordinary, 16-save in goal performance for UC Irvine Saturday night in the semifinals of the NCAA water polo championships.

Maizel’s goaltending and Jeff Campbell’s three goals led the Anteaters to a 7-6 win over UCLA in the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach and put UCI in the final against No. 1-seed Stanford tonight at 7:30.

It wasn’t that Maizel was stuck for something to say, it was just that his teammates wouldn’t allow him to get a word in.

“It was luck,” said one.

“Intuition,” another.

And one diplomat warned Maizel that anything he said could be held against him by Stanford players reading the morning papers.

“Watch what you say. You don’t want to tip them off Mark . . . I’m serious.”

Maizel had done what the rest of the Irvine team could not: Slow down the UCLA counterattack.

Throughout the game, the Bruins made the transition from defense to offense so quickly that they usually had a player advantage when driving toward goal.

“Stopping the counterattack has been our biggest weakness all season,” Maizel said.

Such a weakness that, by the 4:58 mark of the third quarter, the Bruins tied the score at 5-5 on Jeff Chase’s goal.

With little over a minute left and the score still tied, UCLA looked like it would take its first lead of the match when it was awarded a free shot at the 4-meter mark. But Maizel blocked the free shot, made a quick outlet pass that eventually translated into a backhand goal by Campbell with 46 seconds left in the period.

Irvine had a 6-5 lead that grew to 7-5 when J.R. Salvatore scored his third goal of the match early in the fourth quarter

“That was a big two-point turnaround,” UCI Coach Ted Newland said. “Mark stopping that shot and Jeff getting the goal right after . . . definitely the turning point of the match.”

Said Maizel: “You’re gambling in a situation like that. You just have to guess where the guy is going to shoot and try to be there.”

UCLA cut the lead to 6-5 on Monty Yort’s goal with 3:02 remaining in the match. Less than a minute later, UCLA appeared to be on the verge of tying the match when it counterattacked its way to another man advantage.

The man was Bruin freshman Fernando Carsalade, who found himself unguarded at the 4-meter mark.

Sound familiar?

He shot what was, in essence, a free shot to Maizel’s right. Maizel lunged and batted the ball away with his forearm.

“If you’re going to win the championship, you’re usually going to have to have an outstanding goalie,” Stanford Coach Dante Dettamante said. “They have one in Maizel.”

Stanford had a relatively easy time for three quarters against its semifinal opponent, UC Santa Barbara. The Cardinal had a safe 7-3 lead, going into the fourth period against the Gauchos but allowed UCSB to score three goals. Stanford held on for a 7-6 win.

“It got a little scary there,” Dettamante said. His team has played UCI three times this season, winning twice and losing once.

“Of course, we have to stop Campbell,” he said. “But you can’t forget about Salvatore. He can score on anybody.”

Said Maizel: “The key will be the same with Stanford as it was with UCLA. We have to stop their counterattack.”