Coming off of a win against the UCLA Bruins at home, No. 3 Stanford men’s (16-3, 1-1 MPSF) water polo plays host to top-ranked California (18-1, 2-0) on Thursday afternoon for its penultimate game of the season.

Currently, Stanford is tied for second in the MPSF, behind Cal’s perfect 2-0 record and tied with USC. A win against the Bears on Thursday would put both Stanford and Cal at 2-1, thus both team would be sharing the regular-season conference title. In case USC triumphs against the Bruins on Saturday, the Trojans will also share the crown.

Coming off a 10-game winning streak, Stanford hasn’t lost since it dropped a game at Cal on Sept. 24. During that span, freshman Ben Hallock has continuously carried the Cardinal offensively, upping his goals-per-game average from 2.7 to 3.2 in order to help Stanford outscore its opponents by a combined 127 to 51. Posting his 11th hat trick against the Bruins last weekend, Hallock earned his third MPSF Newcomer of the Week award.

The Cardinal will however be facing an equally hot Bears team who is riding an eight-game win streak of their own. Last time the two teams faced off, Cal came away with an 11-9 victory. The Cardinal will play at home this time around, where they are still a perfect 6-0.

Contact Alexandre Bucquet at bucqueta ‘at’ stanford.edu.