No. 4 Stanford men’s water polo (15-3) finished the weekend on the road 2-0 with victories over No. 7 Long Beach State and No. 6 UC Irvine.
The Cardinal kicked off the weekend playing a very close game on Saturday against Long Beach State University. After one quarter and two lead changes, Stanford led 3-2.
The Cardinal went into the half with a 4-3 lead thanks to a late goal by Hallock. In the next half, the Cardinal increased their lead to 8-4 and later to 10-6. Within the final minutes, however, LBSU surged cut the lead to 10-9 before the final buzzer.
Sophomore Ben Hallock and fifth-year senior Jackson Kimbell combined for a total of seven goals in the victory over LBSU.
The hot streak continued for the Cardinal with another victory at UC Irvine on Sunday.
The Anteaters took an early 2-0 lead; nevertheless, the Cardinal were able to rally four goals to make the score 4-2 heading into halftime. Irvine was able to score again, but the Cardinal went on to record multiple goals to make the score 7-3 by the end of three quarters.
Fifth-year senior goalkeeper Drew Holland had nine saves throughout the game and now holds the Cardinal record at a total of 876 stops. Moreover, fifth-year senior Reid Chase’s hat trick as well as goals by seniors Harrison Enright and Sam Pfeil and junior Blake Parrish propelled the Cardinal over the Anteaters by a score of 11-5.
The team no longer has any more road games for the rest of the regular season and returns to the Farm on a nine-game winning streak. Stanford now plays its next six games all at home including a rematch against rival Cal. The Cardinal’s next game will be at against No. 3 UCLA on Saturday, Nov. 4 at 12:30 p.m.
Contact Alex Bhatt at abhatt21 ‘at’ stanford.edu.