Nikolaos Papanikolaou had seven goals, Roberto Valera gave California the lead with 41 seconds left and the Golden Bears scored five straight goals to stun Southern California 13-12 and win their second straight NCAA men’s water polo championship on Sunday.
Cal beat the Trojans by an identical score last season when Papanikolaou had a field block in the closing seconds to preserve the win. It was the Golden Bears record 16th championship and they improved to 7-1 against USC when playing for the title.
Papanikolaou tied the game on a power-play goal with 90 seconds left and Valera followed with his winner. "We were struggling and USC played great," he said. "Papa came up with a few great shots. We were riding him all game. Papanikolaou, who earned MVP honors despite being surrounded by four Trojan defenders most of the match, connected on 7 of 9 shots and drew seven exclusions which led to half of the Golden Bears’ 14 power plays. Valera finished with four goals on eight shots. Adrian Weinberg had 12 blocks and two steals in goal — his second steal came with 7 seconds left to preserve the victory. Deely finished with a goal and four assists.Jake Ehrhardt, Max Miller and Di Martire all scored twice for the Trojans.
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