On Friday night at the Sullivan Aquatic Center in Santa Clara, Calif., the Stanford men’s water polo team romped its way to a commanding 17-6 victory over the Santa Clara Broncos.
The No. 4 Cardinal, now 10-5 overall and 3-1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), will return to competitive league play this Saturday against No. 8 Long Beach State. The game will take place at the Avery Aquatic Center, just the Cardinal’s second home game of the season.
The No. 11 Broncos (17-10), who compete in the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA), were thoroughly blown out by the surging Cardinal. Stanford has now won its past three games, outscoring its opponents in that span by a combined score of 50-18, all against quality opponents.
The team peaked at the right time, with four vital league games remaining before the MPSF Tournament at Avery Aquatics Center.
Friday’s win over the Broncos was an offensive onslaught, mainly courtesy of two of Stanford’s most prodigious scorers, senior utility Jeffrey Schwimer and junior driver Jacob Smith. Each scored four goals, paving the way for the Stanford blowout.
Several other players contributed heavily to the offense, including sophomore driver Paul Rudolph, who scored three times. Sophomore two-meter Ryan Brown and senior driver Alex Pulido scored twice each, and sophomore drivers Tim Norton and Porter Kalibus added a goal apiece.
To date, the bulk of Stanford’s scoring has come from experienced veterans, with talented younger players starting to chip in and contribute.
Santa Clara’s six goals were scored by Stephen Hobbs, James Case, Marcus Akerland, Joshua Luebke, Nick Poggetti and Patrick Weiss. These goals came too late for the Broncos, who had won nine of their past 10 games before their contest against Stanford.
A tag-team in the net anchored the Stanford defense, a rare occurrence for the Cardinal, which boasts one of the country’s top goalies in redshirt junior Brian Pingree. With the large lead, head coach John Vargas put redshirt freshman Hunter Ploch into the net for the second half.
Both players performed admirably in their critical role as stopper, each recording four saves and letting in three goals.
Stanford came out of the gate hot on Friday, overwhelming the Broncos from the beginning with three unanswered goals in the first period. This trend has become rather normal for a Cardinal squad that has gotten off to quick starts in several of its recent games.
Stanford will need to be just as sharp in its final five games of the season, starting Saturday at home against Long Beach State.