It wasn’t always pretty, but the men’s water polo team got its act together over the final weeks of last season, mounting a late push that ended just short of the national championship. The Cardinal lost first-team All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation selection Jeffrey Schwimmer, who scored 33 goals for Stanford in 2010, to graduation but returns six of its top eight scorers from last year.
- Sophomore Forrest Watkins (right), who scored in a 12-5 loss to No. 1 USC in the NorCal Invitational, and the rest of the Cardinal are looking to bounce back from early losses to two of the best teams in the nation. (Stanford Daily File Photo)
The offense looked very strong at times in the season-opening NorCal Invitational two weeks ago, and several freshmen had solid debuts as Stanford knocked off host Pacific 9-8 in overtime and St. Francis (N.Y.) 11-6 on the first day of competition.
2010 second-team All-American Jacob Smith, who led the team with 54 goals a year ago, scored three goals in the first two games, but freshman utility Alex Bowen was the talk of the town after notching five goals in the two matches — the San Diego native scored a hat trick in his college debut against St. Francis.
But on day two, the Cardinal (2-2) ran into some stiffer competition. Coach John Vargas’ team couldn’t find the net early and couldn’t catch up late in a 12-5 loss at the hands of No. 1 USC (4-0) before losing an 8-7 nail-biter against No. 2 California (3-1).
Redshirt senior goalie Brian Pingree was tested all day long, making 15 saves over the two matches, but couldn’t hold off the defending national champion Trojans in the end.
Smith added to his scoring haul in the third-place game against Cal, finding the net early for a 1-0 lead, but the Bears battled back and ran the score out to 4-2 before Bowen, Smith and senior Alex Avery combined to put the Cardinal ahead 5-4 at halftime.
After the teams traded goals in the third period, Cal jumped back on top with two quick goals to start the fourth period and held on for the victory.
Bowen and Smith finished the weekend with seven goals apiece, and Stanford got some much-needed experience against two top-tier teams in USC and Cal. But it remains to be seen whether Stanford can finally get over the hump and win the program’s 12th national championship and first since 2002.
Stanford returns to the pool for the SoCal Tournament tomorrow in Long Beach, Calif., where it will take on Princeton at 10:40 a.m. The two-day tournament concludes Sunday, and MPSF play begins next weekend, when the Cardinal hosts Pepperdine and UC-Santa Barbara on Friday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 9 at 12 p.m. Both matches will take place at the Avery Aquatic Center.
Contact Miles Bennett-Smith at milesbs “at” stanford.edu.