UCLA and Stanford to Face Off for Title

UCLA will face Stanford today in the final of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men’s water polo championships after winning semifinal games Saturday at UC Irvine.

UCLA, the top seed, avoided an upset in the first semifinal when Sean Kern scored two goals and Adam Wright added one to complete a 12-9 overtime victory over fourth-seeded California.

Former North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake standout Albert Won of Cal sent the game into overtime when he scored a two-point goal from about 13 meters with 21 seconds left in regulation, tying the score, 9-9.

“My heart stopped for a second,” said Blake Wellen, a driver for the Bruins. “But you have to shake it off. You can’t dwell on it.”

UCLA dominated the overtime, scoring the first goal at 5:24, followed by two more in the last two minutes.

“We practice on overtime situations,” UCLA Coach Guy Baker said. “We don’t announce it during practice. We sort of spring it on them. Like a real game. So I think we were ready.”

Whether the Bruins were ready or not, they certainly were helped by Cal penalties, which resulted in man-advantages on all three overtime goals.

The Bruins, who won back-to-back NCAA titles in 1995 and 1996, haven’t won a conference title since 1975.

Kern scored five goals to lead the Bruins (19-3). Wright and Brian Brown had two goals apiece, with teammates Dave Parker, Andrew Bailey and Neil Hueston each adding one goal. Jerry Smith scored four goals for Cal (13-11).

In the other semifinal, Stanford was able to protect a two-goal lead to defeat Pacific, 8-6.

The championship final starts at 1:30 p.m today. The third-place game between Cal and Pacific is at noon.