The No. 4 Stanford men’s water polo team had two big days at home this past weekend, vanquishing a pair of top opponents in Long Beach State and UC-Irvine.
The Cardinal (12-5, 5-1 MPSF) added to its streak of strong performances at Avery Aquatic Center, with its two victories over the weekend contributing to a home winning streak that currently stands at 13 games and dates all the way back to the 2008 season. That streak bodes well for the end of Stanford’s season, as the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Tournament will be hosted at Avery Aquatic Center over Thanksgiving break.
Saturday afternoon’s contest saw No. 8 Long Beach State taking to the pool against the Cardinal. An unusually high amount of physicality characterized the game—the first quarter alone had 11 penalties called on the two teams.
Stanford stayed strong in the face of aggressive play by the 49ers. It managed to keep its composure, execute on penalty shots, take advantage of unbalanced goal-scoring situations and hang on for a hard-fought 11-6 victory.
Junior driver Jacob Smith had another big day for the Cardinal, scoring four times. Senior utility Jeffrey Schwimer, Smith’s main partner for carrying the offense over Stanford’s past few games, did not disappoint either, scoring three goals of his own.
Senior driver Sage Wright, junior driver Ryan Kent and sophomore driver Paul Rudolph rounded out the scoring for the Cardinal. Redshirt junior goalie Brian Pingree was staunch in the net, holding down the 49ers with eight saves.
Sunday, in the rain, the Cardinal battled No. 5 UC-Irvine, with second place in the MPSF standings on the line. Stanford used its best defensive showing in weeks to hold down the Anteaters for a 7-2 victory.
Despite rainy conditions, the Cardinal got off to a hot start and never looked back. The Stanford squad scored three goals in each of the first two quarters of the game, while managing to hold UC-Irvine off the board completely until the five-minute mark of the third period.
Stanford continued to use the same formula for success, with Smith, Schwimer and Wright handling most of the offensive output and Pingree locking down the defense.
Both factors in the formula came through on Sunday, with Smith and Wright netting three goals each, Schwimer accounting for the other one and Pingree performing wonderfully, totaling 11 saves in perhaps his best game since his dominant showing of 14 saves against USC on Oct. 9.
With these two in-conference victories, Stanford is securely in second place in the MPSF standings, trailing only top-ranked California. These two teams may very well be No. 1 and No. 2 in the conference when they meet for the final game of the season—the final tune-up before the MPSF Tournament kicks off—on Nov. 19 in Berkeley.
In order to make that a possibility, Stanford needs to take care of business against UC-Davis, which is not in the MPSF, and Pacific, which is currently ranked No. 7 in the country. The Card will travel to Davis, Calif., to take on the Aggies on Friday.