NCAA WATER POLO CHAMPIONSHIPS : UCI Wins; Plays Cal for Title Today
- Share via
INDIANAPOLIS — Tom Warde scored five goals to lead UC Irvine to an 8-7 victory over Stanford in a semifinal match of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. water polo tournament Saturday.
Second-seeded Irvine (26-6) will play No. 1 California for the national championship at 4:30 p.m. (PST) today. Cal defeated Pepperdine, 10-9, to advance.
“We just played tremendous defense,” Warde said. “This is just a tremendous feeling because we lost to Stanford in the final my freshman year.”
Warde’s fifth goal put Irvine ahead, 7-6, with 3:27 remaining.
“Once we got up 7-6 in the fourth, we really closed down their outlet passes and counter attacks,” Irvine Coach Tom Newland said.
Dan Smoot scored with 2:40 remaining to put Irvine up, 8-6, and it turned out to be the winning goal after Jeff Oeding scored a four-meter penalty shot with 38 seconds remaining.
Cal has won two of three meetings with Irvine this season.
Go beyond the scoreboard
Get the latest on L.A.'s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
