Oct. 22, 2006
Santa Barbara, Ca - Freshman Janson Wigo fired a skip shot in sudden victory overtime to give the fourth-ranked Stanford men's water polo team a dramatic 11-10 decision over ninth-ranked UC Santa Barbara on Sunday afternoon in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) game.
Stanford won the sprint to start the game and scored in the first 20 seconds off a skip shot from J.J. Garton. The Gauchos answered back less than a minute later with an off-speed backhand shot from Jesse Tootell. Stanford scored next when Michael Bury had an open look at UCSB junior goalie Rick Wright. Back came UCSB as the home team evened the score at 2-2 when Matt Tilburg drew a foul and Miles Price took the five-meter penalty shot.
The Cardinal scored when freshman Drac Wigo scored from beyond the five-meter mark. UC Santa Barbara scored next on a shot from Kendell Olds. Price put UCSB in front at 4-3 when he converted a man advantage situation, but the Cardinal tied it at 4-4 with a goal from Chris Jacobson.
UCSB then started the third period with three straight goals to give the Gauchos a commanding 7-4 lead. However, with less than a minute remaining in the quarter, Jacobson scored his second goal to pull the Cardinal to within two.
The fourth period was Stanford's turn for a 3-0 run with a goal from Bury and two goals from Janson Wigo to give the Cardinal an 8-7 advantage. With two minutes left in regulation the Gauchos capitalized on a 6-on-5 man advantage with a goal from Coulson Lantz with 1:51 left in regulation. Neither team scored the rest of the way to send the game into overtime.
Stanford scored the only goal of the first overtime period Andrew Drake scored with an assist from William Hindle-Katel. With roughly a 1:15 left in the second overtime, UCSB scored on a five-meter penalty shot goal from Travis Watts to even the score at nine. The Cardinal responded with 47 seconds remaining when Tyler Drake scored off a penalty shot. Santa Barbara then received a goal from Dale with 22 seconds remaining in the second overtime to force a sudden victory period.
UCSB won the sprint but immediately turned the ball over on an offensive foul. Janson Wigo won the game for the Cardinal with a skip shot that got past the UCSB goalkeeper to end the game 11-10.
Stanford now has a four game winning streak to increase its season record to 11-5 and 3-1 in the MPSF. UC Santa Barbara fell to 15-10 overall and 0-2 in the conference.
ot
Stanford (11-5, 3-1 MPSF)22131-1-1=11
UCSB(15-10, 0-2 MPSF) 11310-2-0=10
Stanford Scorers: J. Wigo 3, Bury 2, Jacobson 2, A. Drake 1, T. Drake 1, Garton 1, D. Wigo 1
UC Santa Barbara Scorers: Dale 2, Price 2, Watts 2, Lantz 1, Olds 1, Tootell 1, Vincze 1
Goalie Saves: na