By Austin Turner – Staff Writer
San Jose State’s men’s water polo suffered its largest defeat since the team was reinstated in 2015 when it fell to No. 3 UC Berkeley 22-1 on Saturday.
The Spartans (4-3) endured a complete assault from the Golden Bears (10-1) attack throughout the entire game.
There were 11 different scorers for Cal, with six of them scoring multiple times. Senior attacker Johnny Hooper led the game with six goals, his second match with six goals in a row.
The Golden Bears scored the first 13 goals of the game, before sophomore utility player Giacomo Lovatelli gave the Spartans their only point on a power-play goal in the third quarter.
Three SJSU goalkeepers combined for only six saves in the entire match. The starting keeper, freshman Yahav Fire, lasted only one quarter and made two saves.
Junior T.J. Palmer played the second quarter and made one save. Freshman James O’Brien played the entire second half and was credited with three saves.
For the Spartans, this match was only the beginning of an absolutely brutal string of teams that they will face over the next two weeks.
After falling to No. 3 Cal, SJSU will be on the road for the three remaining top-four teams in the NCAA rankings, as well as No. 7 UC Santa Barbara.
The Spartans kick off their road trip against No. 4 Stanford Cardinal (7-0) on Saturday.
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