Nov. 24, 2006
Irvine, Ca - The fourth-ranked Stanford men's water polo team advanced to Saturday's semifinals at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Tournament with a 12-9 victory over ninth-ranked UC Santa Barbara on Friday afternoon at UC Irvine's Anteater Aquatics Complex.
Eight different Cardinal players scored at least one goal as the Cardinal upped its season rcord to 17-7. Tyler Drake led the Stanford attack with three goals while Drac Wigo and J.J. Garton added two goals apiece.
The game was close through three periods. Stanford led 3-2 at the end of the first period, 6-5 at halftime, and 8-7 after three periods. The Cardinal used four fourth period goals to hold off the fifth-seeded Gauchos.
Sandy Hohener recorded 14 saves in goal for Stanford.
Stanford, seeded fourth in the tournament, will now have the task of trying to defeat top-ranked, unbeaten and defending NCAA champion USC (24-0) on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Earlier this year, the Trojans scored a 6-2 victory at Stanford. USC advanced on Friday with a 17-1 thrashing of Pacific.
The MPSF Tournament winner will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Final Four on Dec. 2-3 at Loyola Marymount. Navy and UC San Diego have already received berths to the NCAA Tournament. An at-large bid will fill out the four team field. That at-large team will be from the MPSF.
Stanford (17-7)3324=12
UCSB (19-14)2322=9
Stanford Scorers: T. Drake 3, D. Wigo 2, Garton 2, Bury 1, J. Wigo 1, Schwartz 1, McCarthy 1, Fortune 1
UCSB Scorers: Lantz 2, Olds 1, Partelow 1, Watts 1, Castillo 1, Vincze 1, Sinclair 1, Price 1
Goalie Saves: Hohener (S) 14; Wright (UCSB) 10
Friday, November 24 - MPSF First Round
#1 USC 13, #8 UC Irvine 2
#2 California 17, #7 Long Beach State 6
#3 UCLA 17, #6 Pacific 1
#4 Stanford 12, #5 UC Santa Barbara 9
Saturday, November 25 - MPSF Semfinals
10:00 a.m. - Game 5 - UC Irvine (10-19) vs UC Santa Barbara (19-14)
11:30 a.m. - Game 6 - Long Beach State (10-16) vs Pacific (15-16)
1:00 p.m. - Game 7 - USC (24-0) vs Stanford (17-7)
2:30 p.m. - Game 8 - California (27-4) vs UCLA (16-5)
Sunday, November 26 - MPSF Finals
10:00 a.m. - Game 9 - 7th Place - Losers Games 5 & 6
11:30 a.m. - Game 10 - 5th Place - Winners Games 5 & 6
1:00 p.m. - Game 11 - 3rd Place - Losers Games 7 & 8
3:00 p.m. - Game 12 - 1st Palce - Winners Games 7 & 8