No. 2 men’s water polo (16-2, 1-1 MPSF) defeated No. 7 UC Berkeley (11-9, 0-2 MPSF) on Saturday, winning the contest 15-8. It was a redemptive win for the Cardinal, after suffering an 8-9 loss to USC on Nov. 2.
Stanford was led by redshirt junior 2M Ben Hallock, who matched his career high with eight goals.
“I thought we came out with some really good energy,” said Hallock. “We were pretty disappointed in the result of last week’s game against USC. We wanted to tackle the game today in four-minute increments, split the quarters in half and dominate four minutes at a time. And I think we did just that.”
Stanford got off to a quick start, with a goal by junior driver Tyler Abramson. Senior driver Dylan Woodhead followed with a goal of his own, before Abramson scored his second goal of the game. Hallock then made it 4-0. Berkeley netted their first goal with three minutes left in the first quarter, before Hallock scored his second goal to end the first quarter 5-1 for the Cardinal.
Berkeley scored first in the second quarter, before Hallock contributed his third. Berkeley followed up with another goal. Redshirt sophomore 2M Parker Killion scored his first goal of the game, making it 7-3. Hallock scored again after consecutive impressive saves from Berkeley’s Adrian Weinberg. Senior driver Bennett Williams scored, making the halftime score 9-3.
Hallock scored the first goal of the second half, before Berkeley scored twice in a row. Hallock followed up with another goal of his own, before Abramson added another goal to end the third frame at 12-6
Berkeley scored first in the fourth quarter, and Hallock responded with consecutive goals for his seventh and eighth of the game. Williams scored his second of the game, before they both exited the pool to a big round of applause with two minutes left. Berkeley scored the final goal of the game, but the game had already been decided. Senior goalkeeper Andrew Chun had a great game, recording a few key saves.
“I thought it was a great game and the score reflected that,” said Chun, “It’s always fun playing Cal, it just means a little bit more. We came out firing all cylinders and it was a really good game.”
Stanford will face No. 1 UCLA (16-2, 1-1 MPSF) at Avery Aquatic Center on Nov. 16 at 12 p.m.
Contact Charlie Shors at cshors ‘at’ stanford.edu and Julia Ransom at jtransom ‘at’ stanford.edu.