Via CalBears.com
BERKELEY – No. 16 may have been sweeter than all the rest.
The top-seeded Cal men's water polo team stormed back from a four-goal deficit with under six minutes to play to stun USC 13-12 and capture the 16
th national title in program history on Sunday at a delirious Spieker Aquatics Complex.
The Bears (23-2) also repeated as NCAA champions, improbably beating the Trojans by the same score as they did last year when they captured the crown at UCLA. The 16 NCAA titles are the most all-time for collegiate men's water polo
Three-time MPSF Player of the Year and reigning National Player of the Year Nikolaos Papanikolaou had a championship game for the ages, tying his career-high with seven goals – the last of which knotted the game at 12-12 with 1:30 to play. After All-American goalie Adrian Weinberg came up with a save on USC's next possession, sophomore Roberto Valera leaked out on the counterattack and notched the game-winning goal from point-blank range with 41 seconds remaining.
The Trojans couldn't get a clean shot off on their final possession, and the Bears were able to run out the clock, setting off a wild celebration in their home pool.
Things looked grim for Cal after USC extended its lead to 12-8 early in the fourth quarter. The Trojans outplayed the Bears for most of the second and third quarters, and when Cal came up empty on each of its next two possessions after USC extended its lead to four goals, the confidence coming from the USC bench was palpable.
The Bears finally broke through on a goal by Valera with 5:41 left, and after a USC turnover, Papanikolaou took a feed from All-American Jack Deely and tipped the ball into the cage to make it 12-10 at the 5:02 mark of the fourth quarter. Weinberg came up with a couple more saves and Deely and Papnikolaou connected again on a power play to cut the deficit to 12-11 with 3:22 remaining.
Papanikolaou then made the play of the game, outhustling a pair of USC players to slap back in a rebound off a shot by freshman Albert Ponferrada to tie the game at 12-12.
Papanikolaou added seven earned exclusions while Valera finished with four goals and Deely had four assists. Weinberg ended with 12 saves. Papanikolaou also moved into fifth place on Cal's all-time scoring list with 210 in his career.
