Nov. 30, 2002
Los Alamitos, Calif. - Stanford (22-4) fell to California (18-6) tonight at the MPSF Championship Tournament, hosted by Long Beach State at The Joint Forces Training Base. The Golden Bears advance to the Championship match against Pepperdine, while the Cardinal will battle for third place against UCLA tomorrow.
Stanford jumped out to a 2-1 first quarter lead and doubled that margin before the break for a 4-2 lead at the end of the first half. Cal took control in the third quarter, though, posting three goals to Stanford's one tying the game at 5-5.
Senior Peter Hudnut tallied his second mark of the day to give Stanford the 6-5 lead with 6:06 to go in the game, but the Golden Bears came back with a penalty shot and a field shot to claim their first lead of the match at 7-6 with 4:28 remaining. On Attilla Banhidy's third penalty shot of the game with 3:49 left, Cal took a two point lead. Sophomore Tony Azevedo closed the gap with a score 31 seconds later, but the Golden Bears held on to claim the victory.
Stanford and California split their four games this year, with each match being decided by one goal. Senior keepers proved themselves today as Stanford's Nick Ellis collected nine saves while Cal's Russell Bernstein recorded ten.
Azevedo set a new school record today as he now claims 88 goals this season, breaking the single-season goals scored mark by one. The previous record of 87 was held by two members of the 1986 squad, Erich Fischer and Craig Klass. Azevedo is also tenth in Stanford history with 156 career goals.
Stanford will face UCLA in the MPSF third place match at 5:00 p.m. tomorrow, Sunday, Dec. 1st. Stanford is 2-0 against the Bruins this season. For up-to-date results and photos, please check the official MPSF Tournament site at www.usawaterpolo.com/~mpsf.
Game Summary
MPSF Tournament - Semifinals
Nov. 30, 2002
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
Stanford Scoring: Tony Azevedo 3, Peter Hudnut 2, Thomas Hopkins 1, Jeff Nesmith 1.
California Scorers: Attilla Banhidy 4, Todd Hylton 2, Chris Lathrop 2.
Goalie Saves: Nick Ellis (Stan) 9; Russell Bernstein (Cal) 10.
6-on-5: Stanford 2-6; California 1-11.