Anteaters finish fourth

BERKELEY -- The No. 2-ranked UC Irvine men’s water polo team

sustained a pair of losses Sunday to finish fourth in the NorCal

Tournament at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

After falling to No. 7-ranked UCLA, 7-5, in one semifinal, the

Anteaters were bested, 9-6, by Stanford, coached by former Corona del

Mar High head man and former UCI standout John Vargas, in the

third-place final.

Stanford’s Tony Azevedo scored four goals against UCI, which

pulled within 7-6 on Charlie Fisher’s extra-man goal with 3:17 left.

Fisher and Dreason Barry scored two goals apiece for UCI, which

fell to 8-4. Doug Finfrock made 11 saves for Coach Ted Newland’s

Anteaters.

Stanford, which received 11 saves from Brandon Brooks, improved to

11-2.

Against UCLA, which topped USC, 6-3, in the tournament’s

championship game, UCI got single goals from Barry, Jeff Powers, Phil

Garcia, Garrett Gentry and Rick Merlo.

Brett Ormsby paced the Bruins with three goals.

UCI returns to action Saturday, when it will host UC Santa Barbara

in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opener at noon.

NORCAL TOURNAMENT

Third-place game

Stanford 9, UCI 6

Score by quarters

UC Irvine 1 2 2

1 -- 6

Stanford 2 3 2 2

-- 9

UCI -- Fisher 2, Barry 2, Powers 1, Gentry 1. Saves --

Finfrock 11.

Stanford -- Azevedo 4, Gallogy 1, Guyman 1, Hopkins 1,

Nesmith 1, Derse 1. Saves -- Ellis 13.

Semifinal

UCLA 7, UCI 5

Score by quarters

UCLA 2 3 1 1

-- 7

UC Irvine 1 1 0

3 -- 5

UCLA -- Ormsby 3, Peck 2, Garcia 1, Hewko 1. Saves -

Brooks 11.

UCI -- Garcia 1, Powers 1, Gentry 1, Merlo 1, Barry 1.

Saves - Finfrock 7.