Stanford, Pepperdine Work Overtime

Early three-goal leads followed by prolonged slumps and nifty passing by their opponents in overtime were the formula for disaster for the two top-seeded teams Saturday during semifinal play of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation water polo tournament at Newport Harbor High.

USC, ranked No. 1 in the country, lost to third-ranked Stanford, 7-6, in sudden-death overtime and UC Irvine, ranked No. 4 in the nation but seeded second in the tournament because of its conference record, lost to No. 6 Pepperdine, 6-5, in overtime.

USC (22-3) will almost certainly get the one at-large berth to the NCAA championships next Friday and Sunday at Corona del Mar High. The winner of today’s 2:30 MPSF title game between Stanford and Pepperdine will earn the conference’s automatic berth and join Massachusetts, UC San Diego and USC in the four-team NCAA field.

Stanford trailed, 3-0, after three minutes. But when senior David Hay flicked a pass through traffic to Andy Walburger, who reached up and redirected the ball into a high corner of the net with 37 seconds remaining in the first sudden-death period, it lifted the Cardinal (19-6) to victory.

UC Irvine (19-7) grabbed a 3-0 lead against Pepperdine (13-10) in the first six minutes, but the Anteaters needed Dan Klatt’s steal and length-of-the-pool scoring drive with 24 seconds left in regulation to tie the score.

Both goalies--Pepperdine’s Merrill Moses and Irvine’s Genai Kerr--made several saves in overtime before the Waves’ Sean Hylton whipped a pass to Todd King, whose shot from four meters beat Kerr with 42 seconds left in the second overtime period.

UCLA defeated Pacific, 8-5, and California beat Long Beach State, 9-7, in consolation semifinals.