Oct. 18, 2008
PASADENA, Calif. - The day's first Stanford-UCLA matchup took place in the pool at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center on Saturday, and the second-ranked Cardinal men's water polo team (14-2, 1-0 MPSF) set a tone it hopes its football brethren follows as it rolled to a 12-2 dismantling of No. 4 UCLA in the team's MPSF opener.
The Cardinal raced out to a 4-0 lead into the second period, and held the Bruins scoreless for just over the game's first 13 minutes. The sequence very closely resembled Stanford's 7-4 victory over the Bruins at the SoCal Tournament six days ago, in which the Cardinal held the Bruins scoreless for nearly 20 minutes while building a 5-0 lead.
Janson Wigo posted his team-leading eighth hat trick of the season with a game-high three goals. Nine other Stanford players got into the scoring act, as single goals were registered by Will Hindle-Katel, Chris Jacobson, Ryan McCarthy, Alex Pulido, Jeffrey Schwimer, Peter Sefton, Jacob Smith, Drac Wigo, and Sage Wright.
Once again, the Stanford defense clamped down on UCLA, as Jimmie Sandman made 11 saves on the day, and reserve Brian Pingree made a save while seeing action in the fourth period.
Wright opened up the scoring just 49 seconds into the contest, followed by first-period goals from Janson Wigo and Jacobson that gave Stanford a 3-0 lead after the opening period. With the score 4-0 in the second period, UCLA finally got on the board at the 2:45 mark on Ben Hohl's score, but the Cardinal would answer with another goal before the break to take a 5-1 lead.
Stanford would then quickly slam the door on any hopes of a comeback once play resumed, scoring the first six goals of the half to complete a 7-0 run that stretched from late in the second period to the 1:34 mark of the fourth. The Cardinal overwhelmed the UCLA defense with a barrage of shots, as Bruin goalkeeper Chay Lapin made just two saves on the day and UCLA matched its season-high with 12 goals surrendered.
The Cardinal return to Northern California to complete weekend action Sunday, Oct. 19, taking on UC Santa Cruz at 12 p.m. in Santa Cruz.
Stanford - 3 2 2 5 = 12
UCLA - 0 1 0 1 = 2
Stanford Goal Scorers: J. Wigo 3, Hindle-Katel, Jacobson, McCarthy, Pulido, Schwimer, Sefton, J. Smith, D. Wigo, Sa. Wright
UCLA Goal Scorers: Hennessy, Hohl
Goalie Saves: Sandman 11, Pingree 1 (S); Lapin 2 (UCLA)