Oct. 27, 2007
STANFORD, Calif. - After a strong start to Saturday's contest, the fourth-ranked Stanford men's water polo team hit a snag the rest of the way, getting outscored 8-4 in the final three periods on the way to a 9-7 loss to the ninth-ranked UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (17-9, 2-2 MPSF). The setback is Stanford's third straight in conference play, dropping the team's record to 9-6, and 1-3 in the MPSF.
The Cardinal looked to have things in order in the first period, Sage Wright, who scored twice Saturday, and Ryan Fortune found the net 53 seconds apart for the early 2-0 Stanford lead. UCSB's Ross Sinclair netted the first of his two goals at the 3:07 mark, but Wright found the net once more 27 seconds later as the Cardinal held a 3-1 lead after a period of play.
In the second period, goals from UCSB's Stefan Partelow and Mark Knudtsen at the 5:59 and 4:55 marks, respectively, knotted things up at 3-3, but Stanford managed to reclaim the lead before halftime thanks to a fine hustle play by Cody Wiesen, who crashed the cage to flip in a rebound that got away from Gaucho goalie Rick Wright.
Fortune began to turn its back on the Cardinal in the second half, as the Gauchos opened things up with three consecutive goals to claim a 6-4 advantage. Zsombor Vincze, who tallied a hat trick on the day, sandwiched a pair of goals around Milos Golic's score at the 4:49 mark. Stanford answered with Andrew Drake's goal at 1:19 to make it 6-5, then equalized 55 seconds into the fourth period on Alex Pulido's score.
But the Gauchos slammed the door on Stanford's comeback attempt, as Vincze's third goal of the game, at 6:12 was followd by Golic's second at 4:56 to put the Cardinal in an 8-6 hole. Although Drac Wigo scored with 3:50 to play to halve the lead, UCSB answered with Sinclair's score at 3:26, and held the Cardinal scoreless the rest of the way.
In the cage, Stanford's Sandy Hohener made 10 saves, while Wright also made 10 on the Gaucho end.
The Cardinal return to action Sunday afternoon at 12 p.m. as they host the fifth-ranked Pepperdine Waves at Avery Stadium.
UCSB 1 2 3 3 - 9
Stanford 3 1 1 2 - 7
Stanford Goal Scorers: Sage Wright 2, Drake, Fortune, Pulido, Wiesen, D. Wigo
UCSB Goal Scorers: Vincze 3, Golic 2, Sinclair 2, Knudtsen, Partelow
Goalie Saves: Hohener 10 (S); Wright 10 (UCSB)