Air Force Academy

Nov. 22, 2002

SAN DIEGO, CA- UC San Diego and Loyola Marymount, the top two seeds in the tournament, both earned victories to move on to the semifinals on the first day of the 2002 Western Water Polo Association Championship, held at UCSD's Canyonview Pool on Friday and Saturday.

Top-seeded host UC San Diego (17-11) had a tougher time than expected in its tournament opener against the eighth-seeded Leopards of La Verne (18-8) in a 9-4 defeat. The Tritons allowed the first goal before tying it up on a Clark Petersen (San Diego/University City HS) score with just five seconds left in the first period. After La Verne junior Robert Casillas answered a goal by Travis Boettner with his second score of the contest to knot it at 2-2, UCSD scored the next five and put the game away. Petersen finished with three goals with Boettner providing a pair for the home side. Steven Jendrusina, Brandon Borso (Carlsbad/Carlsbad HS), and senior Kellan Hori found the back of the cage once each while local second-year player Jonathan Hopkins (Coronado/Coronado HS) increased his team-leading goal total to 58 with one score.

In the first game of the day, #2 seed Loyola Marymount (16-14) took an 11-5 decision over seventh-seeded Redlands (16-12) to open defense of its first-ever WWPA title last year. LMU scored three unanswered goals in the third quarter to break open a close game after taking a 5-3 advantage into the halftime break. Ryan Chapatte, Scott Smith and Tamas Szego produced two goals apiece with senior Kevin Witt adding a pair of fourth-period goals for the Lions. Endre Rex-Kiss, Andrew Jensen and Nick Oster provided single goals to round out the LMU scoring. Senior goalie Kevin Paulsen, the 2001 WWPA Most Valuable Player, made six saves in three quarters of action for the Lions. For Redlands, TJ Harney and Adam Foley provided two goals each with Spencer Dinnean tallying once.

Brigham Young University-Hawaii (16-9) edged #6 UC Davis in the second quarterfinal, 7-5. The Aggies (17-12) got a goal from senior Brook Rogers with five minutes left in the fourth period to close to within two goals, but were unable to get any closer to the third-seeded Seasiders the rest of the way. Keith Dow scored three times for BYU-Hawaii with Stu Johnson, Mike Rieben, Jordan Brink and Kevin Bebb each adding single goals. Davis' Rogers scored a pair for the match with George Dingeldein, Tom Jay and Dave Smith completing the Aggie scoring. BYU-Hawaii freshman Alexsander Stankovic and UC Davis junior Zack Wordes each reached double digits in goalie saves.

In the fourth and final quarterfinal match-up, fourth-seeded Air Force (15-11) topped fifth seed Chaminade (10-8) of Hawaii, 8-4. The Falcons led, 2-0, at the end of one period and after two even quarters of play, opened the fourth frame with three unanswered goals. Senior Charles Horn and junior Kirk Reimer tossed in a pair for the Falcons with Murphey Morgan, Chris Nary, Josh Jewett and Micah Peterson scoring once each. Freshman Milos Matijevic scored twice for Chaminade with Petar Samac and Konstantinos Chaidemenakis grabbing a goal apiece.

Play will continue Friday afternoon with consolation and championship semifinals. UC Davis meets Redlands at 3:30 PM and Chaminade faces La Verne at 5:00 PM in the consolation bracket. Loyola Marymount will take on BYU-Hawaii in one championship semifinal at 6:30 PM with UC San Diego and Air Force following with the other championship semifinal at 8:00 PM to round out the first day of action. The title game is scheduled for 4:30 PM on Saturday.

Friday's Quarterfinal Results

QUARTERFINAL 1 1 2 3 4 OT OT TOT LOYOLA MARYMOUNT (16-14) 2 3 3 3 - - 11 REDLANDS (16-12) 0 3 0 2 - - 5

LMU GOALS: Kevin Witt-2, Tamas Szego-2, Ryan Chapatte-2, Scott Smith-2, Endre Rex-Kiss, Andrew Jensen, Nick Oster. RED GOALS: TJ Harney-2, Adam Foley-2, Spencer Dinnean.

GOALIE SAVES: Kevin Paulsen (LMU)-6, Justin Coleman (LMU)-1, Tyler Newgren (RED)-9.

QUARTERFINAL 2 1 2 3 4 OT OT TOT BYU-HAWAII (16-9) 3 2 2 0 - - 7 UC DAVIS (17-12) 2 0 2 1 - - 5

BYUH GOALS: Keith Dow-3, Stu Johnson, Mike Rieben, Jordan Brink, Kevin Bebb. UCD GOALS: Brook Rogers-2, George Dingeldein, Tom Jay, Dave Smith.

GOALIE SAVES: Alexsander Stankovic (BYUH)-11, Zack Wordes (UCD)-12.

QUARTERFINAL 3 1 2 3 4 OT OT TOT UC SAN DIEGO (17-11) 1 3 2 3 - - 9 LA VERNE (18-8) 1 1 0 2 - - 4

UCSD GOALS: Clark Petersen-3, Travis Boettner-2, Jonathan Hopkins, Steven Jendrusina, Brandon Borso, Kellan Hori. ULV GOALS: Robert Casillas-2, Owen Barrett, Mike Saldana.

GOALIE SAVES: Lance Onken (UCSD)-8, Ian Thorburn (ULV)-11.

QUARTERFINAL 4 1 2 3 4 OT OT TOT AIR FORCE (15-11) 2 1 2 3 - - 8 CHAMINADE (10-8) 0 1 2 1 - - 4

AFA GOALS: Charles Horn-2, Kirk Reimer-2, Murphey Morgan, Chris Nary, Josh Jewett, Micah Peterson. CU GOALS: Milos Matijevic-2, Petar Samac, Konstantinos Chaidemenakis.

GOALIE SAVES: Brandon Shroyer (AFA)-12, Jared Jones (AFA)-2, Chris Howard (CU)-UNA.

Friday Remaining Schedule Consolation Semifinals: 3:30 PM #6 UC Davis vs. #7 Redlands 5:00 PM #5 Chaminade vs. #8 La Verne

Championship Semifinals: 6:30 PM #2 Loyola Marymount vs. #3 BYU-Hawaii 8:00 PM #1 UC San Diego vs. #4 Air Force

Saturday Schedule 12:00 PM Seventh Place Game 1:30 PM Fifth Place Game 3:00 PM Third Place Game 4:30 PM Championship Game