It what can only be described as a fantastic game, the USC men’s water polo team earned a trip to the NCAA Tournament by defeating Stanford, 8-7, in overtime on Sunday.
Stanford head coach John Vargas, reacting to the loss after the game, had nothing but praise for how his team played.
“The guys fought hard, they did a good job. I’m proud of the guys,” Vargas said.
What’s frustrating for Vargas and his team is the prospect of what could have been.
In all likelihood this was the final game of the season for the Stanford men’s water polo team. There is only one at-large entry to the NCAA Tournament, and it almost certainly will go to No. 1 California. If Stanford had been able to net a goal before the Trojans in the sudden death period, as it came ever-so close to on a breakaway by senior captain Sage Wright, or if it had been able to hold off USC’s assault at the end of regulation, the Cardinal would right now be preparing to head to Berkley with a chance to play for the NCAA title.
However, Stanford came up just a little bit short in its attempt to pull off an upset of a weekend. On Friday the fourth-seeded Cardinal came from behind to defeat fifth-seeded UC Irvine, by a score of 8-7, courtesy of a clutch goal late in the fourth quarter by senior utility Jeffrey Schwimer.
On Saturday, in its fourth matchup of the year against top-ranked and seeded Cal, Stanford pulled off a rousing upset, knocking off its rival and propelling it to its first MPSF final since 2004.
“It’s a great feeling,” Vargas said after the Cal match. “The guys worked hard and they did an outstanding job—all the guys on the team. A well deserved win, I feel, and so we’re happy to get to the finals, but our job’s not done.”
The game on Sunday was a roller-coaster affair. with ups and downs for both teams. Three times over the final three periods Stanford found itself down by a goal; three times it fought its way back to tie the game—twice dramatically scoring in the final ten seconds of a period.
The match featured several sterling individual performances—goalie Brain Pingree and driver Sage Wright for Stanford among them.
It also featured perhaps the rowdiest and largest water polo crowd of the season, as contingents from at least four different schools—USC, Cal, UCLA and Stanford—were all in attendance and were all loudly cheering and jeering. Resounding chants alternately sprouted up surrounding specific players, such as when USC fans derided Cardinal goalie Brian Pingree and then Stanford fans drowned them out with an overwhelming chorus of “Pingree’s house.”
Vargas noticed the crowd, saying, “It was a great crowd, we love it.”
The loss was perhaps most difficult for the three seniors on the Cardinal squad, Wright, Schwimer and driver Alex Pulido.
Wright, who Coach Vargas called “very special” and “incredible”, took the time to reflect on the final game of his collegiate water polo career.
“First you feel like, what just happened? And then, you know, those close plays flash through your mind. But then you see your teammates, and that’s what makes the season and makes the team and makes the sport,” Wright said after the loss.
The season very well might be over for the Stanford men’s water polo team, but as Wright says, it really is not all about winning and losing. Besides, if its season is fated to have ended late Sunday afternoon at Avery Aquatic Center, the Cardinal left it all out in the pool.