No. 2 Stanford men’s water polo faced off against No. 5 Fordham at Avery Aquatic Center on Sunday. The Cardinal scored 15 goals against the Fordham Rams’ 11, securing Stanford’s 54th consecutive win against a non-MPSF opponent.
Stanford was first to score, with junior Botond Balogh capturing his first goal of the game just over five minutes in. The Rams and the Cardinal were tied until the final minute of the first quarter, when Stanford juniors Ben Forer and Ryan Ohl each managed to score a goal in the last 40 seconds to secure the lead going into the first break.
Freshman Connor Ohl and redshirt senior Guido Leonardi both scored their first of two goals in the second quarter, with seniors Christopher Arakelian and Alex Gheorghe helping round out Stanford’s 8-5 lead by the end of the first half.
The action continued during the halftime break, when the six women’s water polo freshmen performed a synchronized swimming routine to Justin Bieber’s “Beauty and a Beat” as part of a decades-long tradition.
Connor Ohl scored his second goal about three minutes into the third quarter, and senior Gavin West quickly followed with his first. Forer achieved a hat trick after scoring two more times in the third quarter — in the first 30 seconds and just after the five-minute mark — and was soon joined by Balough, who also achieved a hat trick in the quarter, giving the Cardinal a five-goal lead going into the final eight minutes of the game.
The Rams scored twice at the beginning of the fourth quarter, but Stanford maintained their lead and held on until the end of the game. Forer added a fourth goal with just seven seconds left on the clock to cement Stanford’s win, with a final score of 15-11.
The men’s water polo team will face off against No. 1 UC Berkeley, in what is known as The Big Splash, at 6 p.m. on Friday at Avery Aquatic Center. The final regular season game will determine which of the two teams will be ranked first going into the championship season. A senior night ceremony will follow the match to celebrate the graduating Stanford water polo players.