The No. 4 Stanford men’s water polo team split its four games at the SoCal Tournament, which included a 13-9 loss in the fifth-place contest against rival Cal, this past weekend and left the tournament at UCLA as the sixth-place finisher.
Stanford would not be so fortunate in its second game of the day, falling to No. 6 UC-Santa Barbara 12-10. After taking a one-goal lead into the second period, the Cardinal allowed six Gaucho goals in the second frame, and UC-Santa Barbara never looked back. Senior utility Jeffrey Schwimer and junior utility Peter Sefton each notched three goals in the loss.
Resigned to the consolation bracket, Stanford bounced back with a 9-8 win over No. 8 Long Beach State in its first game Sunday. The contest was tight throughout, and Stanford got a huge day from junior driver Jacob Smith, who hammered home five goals. Pingree had 11 saves in net.
The win put the Cardinal in the fifth-place game against rival Cal. The third-ranked Golden Bears blitzed the Cardinal early in the match and led 8-2 at halftime. The Cardinal was never able to recover, falling 13-9, despite outscoring Cal 5-2 in the final period. Sefton had four goals in the loss.
The champion of the tournament was No. 1 USC, who took down the tournament’s host, UCLA, in the championship game, 9-8.
Stanford will now get ready to host the top-ranked Trojans, who visit the Farm on Saturday.