Nov. 9, 2008
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - No. 7 UC Santa Barbara netted what would end up being the game-winning goal with 4:40 to play to deal No. 2 Stanford a 5-4 upset in MPSF men's water polo action Sunday in Santa Barbara. Despite getting two extra-man opportunities in the final minutes, the Cardinal (21-3, 5-1 MPSF) could not equalize as UC Santa Barbara (15-8, 4-2 MPSF) came away with an upset of Stanford for the second straight year.
Stanford returns home for its final home game and Senior Day festivities next Saturday, Nov. 15 against top-ranked USC at 2 p.m. at Avery Aquatic Center.
Sage Wright scored twice for the Cardinal in the game, with the other two goals coming from Jacob Smith and Drac Wigo.
The defense, paced by Jimmie Sandman's seven saves, held the Gauchos to just five goals on the day.
But it was the struggles of the Stanford offense to find the net Sunday. Averaging 12.00 goals per game heading into Sunday's game, the Cardinal got off to a good start as Wigo converted a five-meter penalty to open the scoring and give the Cardinal a 1-0 lead. But the Gauchos would answer with a 6-on-5 goal from Miles Price less than a minute later, making it 1-1, which is how the opening period would end.
UCSB would convert two more 6-on-5 situations in the second period, as the Gauchos went 4-for-9 on the power play Sunday. Stanford would get its only extra-man goal in 11 tries in the same period, this one coming from the arm of Wright, and would go into the half trailing 3-2.
That deficit would double as the Gauchos opened the scoring in the second half to go up 4-2, but goals from Smith and Wright would even things up at 4-4. Yet neither team could break the tie over the rest of the third period, and they went into the final eight minutes tied at four-apiece.
The Gauchos would end up getting the only goal of the final frame at the 4:40 mark, as a shot from Travis Watts hit the crossbar, leading to Castillo grabbing the rebound and lobbing a shot past Sandman and into the cage for the go-ahead score. Stanford fought furiously in the final 4:40, earning two ejections, the final one with seven seconds remaining, but could not convert and suffered just its third loss of the season.
Stanford - 1 1 2 0 = 4
UC Santa Barbara - 1 2 1 1 = 5
Stanford Goal Scorers: Sa. Wright, J. Smith, D. Wigo
UC Santa Barbara Goal Scorers: Price 2, Castillo, Tootell, Watts
Goalie Saves: Sandman 7 (S); Bunn 10 (UCSB)