DAVIS, Calif. -- The No. 8-ranked UC Davis men's water polo team played a pair of top-four opponents tight on the second day of competition at the 2021 Aggie Roundup, falling just short against No. 4 California and No. 1 USC thanks to a pair of late rallied by the opposition on Saturday at the Schaal Aquatics Center.
The losses ended a run of seven straight wins to start the year for the Aggies, who fell to 7-2 overall on the year, while the Golden Bears (8-0) and Trojans (7-0) remained unbeaten. California posted a 14-11 victory in the opener while the Trojans used a late run to break open a tight contest en route to a 13-7 victory in the nightcap.
Logan Anderson finished with three goals combined in the two matches while five other UC Davis players found the back of the net twice. In all, 13 different players scored a goal for the Aggies in the two games.
In the opener, UC Davis jumped out to leads of 2-0 and 4-3 before a run of three straight goals from the Golden Bears staked the visitors to a two-goal advantage. The two teams traded goals to end the first half, but scores by
Nir Gross and
Ben Fleming to start the third tied the game at eight-all at the 5:16 mark. Nikolaos Papanikolaou scored for Cal to regain the lead, but Anderson and
Hal Goulter scored a minute apart for a 10-9 Aggie lead with 3:12 remaining.
Roberto Valera answered the tie the game with just over two minutes remaining in the period, sparking a decisive 5-0 run that bled into the fourth quarter, giving the Golden Bears some much needed breathing room.
Stefan Venne added a goal with 1:02 remaining to stop the bleeding, but UC Davis would get no closer.
Later in the day, the top-ranked Trojans and the Aggies went toe-to-toe in a low-scoring affair as USC led only 4-2 at halftime with Anderson and
Spencer Towill logging first-half scores for UC Davis. The Aggies didn't let up after the break as
Aleix Aznar Beltran and
Holden Neach scored 80 seconds apart early in the third quarter to tie things up at 4-4, but the Trojans quickly recovered and found their stride.
USC unleashed a barrage of seven straight goals to close out the third -- five of those by Jacob Mercep -- and the run grew to eight straight with a score by Hannes Daube to start the fourth as the Trojans pulled away. Fleming,
Michael Plastino, and
Connor Norton, added scores in the final period, but USC was too far gone.
UC Davis returns to the road to participate at the MPSF Invitational hosted by California next weekend in Berkeley, Calif., beginning Friday (Sept. 24) and running through Sunday (Sept. 26).
