Sept. 20, 2003
Irvine, Ca - Peter Varellas scored a power-play goal with five seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 7-7 and top-ranked Stanford went on to defeat #11 UC Santa Barbara, 9-7, in overtime during first day play on Saturday at the Southern California Men's Water Polo Tournament at the UC Irvine Anteater Aquatics Complex.
Coupled with a 14-8 victory over sixth-ranked UC San Diego earlier in the day, the Cardinal moved into the championship semfinals on Sunday at 10:15 a.m. against California. The championship game is slated for 3:40 p.m.
The Cardinal notched a goal in each of the two three-minute overtime periods played in college water polo. Varellas scored the eventual game-winner with 1:17 left in the first extra session and Greg Crum scored the final goal with 1:35 remaining in the second overtime period.
In regulation, UCSB's Ian Christensen scored with 5:12 left in the third quarter to tie the game at 6-6 and teammate Doug Arthur put the Gauchos ahead on a goal with 3:55 remaining in the fourth quarter before Varellas hit the equalizer.
Earlier in the day, Stanford scored a 14-8 victory over sixth-ranked UC San Diego. Tony Azevedo scored four goals to lead the top-ranked Cardinal. UCSD played the Cardinal even in the first half as the game was tied 5-5 at halftime. Stanford broke it open in the second half as Azevedo, Thomas Hopkins and Mike Derse scored two goals each in the final two quarters. Derse added three goals for the Cardinal. Jonathan Hopkins, whose brother is Stanford's Thomas Hopkins, led UCSD with two goals.
Twelve teams, eleven which are ranked in the nation's Top 20, are competing in the two-day tournament. Stanford and USC are both ranked #1 in the nation, followed by California (3nd), Pepperdine (4th), UCLA (5th), UC San Diego (6th), UC Irvine (7th), Long Beach State (8th), Navy (9th), Pacific (10th) and UC Santa Barbara (11th).
Stanford3245=14
UC San Diego4112=8
Stanford Scorers: Azevedo 4, Derse 3, Varellas 2, T. Hopkins 2, Drake 1, Moser 1, Crum 1
UCSD Scorers: J. Hopkins 2, Cooper 1, Petersen 1, Borso 1, Ustaszewski 1, Eicholz 1, Ellis 1
Goalie Saves: Taylor (S) 6; McElroy (UCSD) 9
Stanford24011-1=9
UCSB 14110-0=7
Stanford Scorers: Varellas 3, Crum 2, Azevedo 1, Drake 1, Hopkins 1, Derse 1
UCSB Scorers: Christensen 2, Arthur 2, Schoneberger 2, Tilburg 1
Goalie Saves: Taylor (S) 6; Wright (UCSB) 9
Southern California Men's Water Polo Tournament
UC Irvine Anteater Aquatics Complex, Irvine, California
September 20, 2003
Stanford 14, UC San Diego 8
Stanford 9, UC Santa Barbara 7 (2ot)
Long Beach State 8, UC Irvine 7 (3ot)
UC San Diego 6, UC Santa Barbara 5
Loyola Marymount 11, Pacific 6
UCLA 13, Cal Baptist 6
USC 10, UC Irvine 9
California 7, Loyola Marymount 6 (3ot)
Pepperdine 9, UCLA 6
USC 9, Long Beach State 7
California 12, Pacific 8
Peppedine 15, Cal Baptist 7
Sunday, September 21, Schedule
7:00 a.m. - Long Beach State vs UCLA (Consolation Semifinal)
8:05 a.m. - UC San Diego vs Loyola Marymount (Consolation Semifinal)
9:10 a.m. - USC vs Pepperdine (Championship Semifinal)
10:15 a.m. - Stanford vs California (Championship Semifinal)
11:20 a.m. - UC Irvine vs Cal Baptist (9th Place Bracket Game)
12:25 p.m. - UC Santa Barbara vs Pacific (9th Place Bracket Game)
1:30 p.m. - 5th Place Game
2:35 p.m. - 7th Place Game
3:40 p.m. - Championship Game
4:45 p.m. - 3rd Place Game
5:50 p.m. - 9th Place Game
6:55 p.m. - 11th Place Game
Cardinal Corner: The 2003 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Tournament from Nov. 28-30 has been moved from the Pepperdine campus to the Long Beach Belmont Plaza Pool ... Eight teams will compete. MPSF teams will be seeded on the basis of their finish in conference round-robin play ... Stanford will host the NCAA Championships (Dec. 6-7) at the Avery Aquatic Complex ... The semi-finals will be held on Dec. 6 at 6:00 and 7:30 p.m. ... The championship game will be held on Dec. 7 at 5:00 p.m. ... The consolation game will be held at 3:30 p.m.