Last weekend, the No. 4 Stanford men’s water polo team entered its second tournament of the year, the NorCal Invitational. The Cardinal (4-2) was highly successful on Saturday, winning both of its matches over ranked oppositions to advance to the semifinals. However, the squad couldn’t keep its momentum through Sunday, falling in two consecutive matches.
Saturday’s competition in Pleasant Hill, Calif., pitted the Cardinal against two ranked opponents—No. 15 UC-Davis and No. 6 UC-Santa Barbara.
The Cardinal’s first match of the day came against UC-Davis, whom Stanford easily dispatched, 13-5. Nine Stanford players scored in the match, including a hat trick from sophomore Travis Noll and two goals each from junior Jacob Smith and senior Sage Wright. Stanford’s defense was also solid, with junior Brian Pingree making nine stops in the cage.
The second game of the afternoon was much closer, but the Card eventually prevailed 7-6 over the Gauchos. The match was a tight, back-and-forth affair. Stanford seized the upper hand early in the match, holding a 3-1 lead after the opening frame, but UCSB came back to tie it at 3-3 heading into the break.
With eight minutes remaining in the match, it was still tied, this time at 5-5. Stanford was able to pull away in the final minutes to secure its 7-6 win. Smith and Wright were critical again to the Card, scoring three and two goals respectively.
Sunday’s action saw Stanford move to the Spieker Aquatics Center in Berkeley, where it faced No. 2 UCLA in the tournament semifinals. Though it battled well against the Bruins, the Card was on the wrong side of the one-goal margin in this contest, falling 10-9.
While Stanford’s offense performed strongly against UCLA, with a hat trick from junior Peter Sefton capping the day, its defense was unable to adequately contain a surging Bruin attack. Pingree was only able to make four saves throughout the game, while his UCLA counterpart stopped eight Stanford shots.
The Cardinal’s struggles continued in the third-place game, when it faced tournament host and current No. 1 California. Its defense once again failed to rise to the occasion, and Stanford fell to the Golden Bears, 11-8.
Stanford got behind early—it was down 6-4 at halftime and was never able to mount a credible comeback. Despite another solid offensive performance from Wright, who had two goals, the defense and Pingree couldn’t keep the Cardinal competitive. While Pingree managed eight saves, Cal made 12 on the match, more than enough to secure the win. The Golden Bears ended the tournament in third place, while Stanford settled for fourth.
In the tournament’s championship game, No. 3 USC held off UCLA, 11-10, to secure first place.
Stanford will now take two weeks off before heading to the SoCal Invitational in Los Angeles on Oct. 2 and 3. The tournament is hosted by UCLA and will feature some familiar foes, including the Bruins, Trojans and Golden Bears.