Cal has right Mann for job

IRVINE — The short breaths and throbbing came over John Mann and he didn’t know what to do, but point to his teammate in the closing moments of a thrilling men’s water polo game.

He had just drew a key penalty and most would think he would take the subsequent shot, but Mann said he wanted to do what was best for his Cal Bears. Mann, the Corona del Mar High product, pointed to Jeff Tyrrell, who connected on the penalty shot with 1:12 remaining.

Cal held off USC and won, 6-5, to snap the Trojans’ 44-game win streak and capture the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship Tournament title Saturday at UC Irvine.

Mann was ecstatic after the final horn and celebrated with his teammates following the emotional victory.

“I can’t tell you how happy I am and how proud I am of the guys,” said Mann, a senior. “It feels really great to win here. I played in this pool when I was a kid. I used to come here and swim and see [Ted] Newland. It’s awesome to come back in this pool and to do something like this.”

Mann scored one goal for Cal (29-4), the Bears’ first, early in the first quarter. Later, he came up big by drawing the penalty on Tommy Corcoran in two meters late in the fourth quarter of a 5-5 game.

“It was a great pass from Adam Haley,” Mann said. “We’ve been playing together for four years. He saw my eyes light up because I knew if I got inside water at this late in the game with a tie game I would be able to get something out of it.”

Mann seemingly used all of his strength to get the inside position and turn toward the cage. By the time the whistle blew for the penalty, Mann was tired. Normally he would have taken the shot, but he wanted Tyrrell to take it. Cal Coach Kirk Everist said he waited for a signal from Mann.

When Everist saw that Mann was tired he also wanted Tyrrell to shoot it.

Everist said it was Tyrrell’s second penalty shot attempt of the season, but that the junior had been hot recently.

“It’s hard to use all that energy and then take the penalty shot,” Everist said. “In that situation, you have a senior [Mann] who has been a key player. That’s a testimony to his maturity that he knows, ‘I would love to take the shot, but I’m going to divert it to someone else because it’s better for the team.’”

With the victory, Cal advances to the four-team NCAA Championships next week at Loyola Marymount.

USC (25-1), the defending NCAA champion, is expected to earn a berth.

“This is nice,” Mann said. “But we have something to do next week. This is great though. It’s really cool to end a streak. And, now we can start a streak for us. It’s our time to start a streak.”

Freshman Spencer Warden led the Bears with two goals. He scored on a tip-in after a great pass from Brian Bacharach with four minutes remaining in the game on a six-on-five, making it 5-5. The teams battled until Mann drew the game-changing penalty.

USC had a six-on-five with 37 seconds left, but Juan Delgadillo’s cross-cage shot went off the post.

The Trojans were about to gather for the rebound, but were called for an offensive foul and Cal ran out the clock to earn the victory and set off the celebration.

“If you’re going to win a game like that someone has to make a play at the end,” Everist said. “John was able to get the ball inside water and earn a penalty shot to give us a shot to win it.”

Everist added that Mann has been a focal point of the Bears’ offense and he was great Saturday, considering he had been matched up with one of the Trojans’ best two-meter defenders, Jovan Vranes, a Newport Harbor High product.

Vranes didn’t cover Mann the entire game. That’s because the player originally from Belgrade, Serbia & Montenegro picked up his third exclusion with 2:19 left in the third quarter.

Vranes could only watch as Mann led the Bears to the win.

“This is a long time coming,” Mann said. “We played real well last week against USC. We knew we could beat them.

“This is something I always wanted to do for the Bears.”

The MPSF championship was Cal’s first since 2002.

Mountain Pacific

Sports Federation

Championship Tournament

Championship Game

Cal 6, USC 5

Score by Quarters

Cal 2 0 2 2 — 6 USC 2 2 0 1 — 5

Cal -- Warden 2, Mann 1, Bacharach 1, Sharf 1, Tyrrell 1. Saves -- Sheredy 9.

USC -- Sarusi 2, Valovic 1, Corcoran 1, Ligtenberg 1. Saves -- Shilling 10.