Bailey Provides the Power as Irvine Defeats Pacific

It’s unlikely they needed to be reminded, but Ryan Bailey wasted no time making sure Pacific’s two-meter defenders knew what they were up against. Thirty-seven seconds into Friday’s game, UC Irvine’s hulk of a hole man overpowered a double team and slammed a shot into a high corner of the goal.

After that, a rotating contingent of Tigers rode Bailey’s back. They held him scoreless until the second half, when he surfaced for four more goals to lead the fourth-ranked Anteaters to a 10-7 victory over No. 7 Pacific in the first round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation water polo tournament at Newport Harbor High.

“They weren’t giving me any space,” Bailey said. “They tried to tire me out and frustrate me, but I did my best not to get upset. Sometimes I lose it, but I did a pretty good job today.”

Bailey, a member of the U.S. national team, scored on a penalty shot early in the third quarter and whipped in a backhand past goalie Ryan Brown midway through the quarter to give the Anteaters a lead they never relinquished.

After Pacific closed to within a goal early in the fourth quarter, Bailey scored twice more in a 27-second span to put Irvine ahead, 9-6, with five minutes 12 seconds to play.

“They were hammering on him, but then everyone beats up on Ryan Bailey,” Irvine Coach Ted Newland said. “No one on this level can stop him one-on-one and he doesn’t get much help from the officials. Nobody roots for Goliath, everybody roots for David.

“And he’s definitely Goliath.”

Irvine meets Pepperdine--which upset second-ranked UCLA--at 2:30 p.m. today in the semifinals. Top-ranked USC will meet No. 3 Stanford in the other semifinal at 1.

In other first-round games:

Pepperdine 7, UCLA 6--Peter Joseph skipped a shot off the head of teammate Todd King--who got credit for the game-winning goal--into the corner of the net with 3:54 remaining to lift the sixth-ranked Waves.

Pepperdine jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first quarter on a goal by Joseph and a two-pointer by Sean Hylton. The Bruins battled back to tie the score at halftime, 4-4, but managed only two more goals, in large part because Wave goalie Merrill Moses made four spectacular saves in the second half.

USC 6, Long Beach State 5--The Trojans held off No. 8 Long Beach, thanks to two first-half goals by James Castle and a pair in the second half by Peter Janov.

Stanford 10, California 5--Brian Heifferon scored three goals and the Cardinal held Cal to two second-half goals. Stanford led, 3-0, at the end of the first quarter and 6-3 at halftime.