Oct. 10, 2009
UCI Invitational Tournament CentralIRVINE, Calif. - The first day of the UCI Invitational in Irvine saw the top-ranked Stanford men's water polo team sweep its way into the tournament's semifinals behind a pair well-balanced efforts. The Cardinal opened the day with a 14-6 victory over No. 14 Princeton before breezing past No. 7 Pepperdine, 13-3 to complete the sweep.
Stanford (11-0, 1-0 MPSF) stretched its season-opening winning streak to 11 games with the victories, and will now face No. 4 California in Sunday's first semifinal at 10:40 a.m. at UC Irvine's Anteater Pool.
Junior Jeffrey Schwimer led the Cardinal offense with five goals on the day, while Drac Wigo and Janson Wigo and Ryan McCarthy each added four. In the cage, senior Jimmie Sandman stopped a total of 17 shots while allowing just five goals.
Saturday's opener saw the Cardinal rack up the first six goals of the contest against the Tigers en route to a 6-1 halftime advantage. The attack did not let up in the second half, either, as Stanford outscored Princeton, 8-5, over the final 16 minutes.
Schwimer led all scorers with four goals in the contest, while Ryan McCarthy, Travis Noll and Paul Rudolph each added a pair. Sandman stopped seven shots before giving way to freshman goalie Scott Platshon, who made one save.
Stanford's second contest of the day saw the offense continue to light up the scoreboard, while the defense stepped things up and held Pepperdine to just three goals.
Sandman made 10 saves as part of the defensive effort, while on the other end, Drac Wigo netted four goals. Ryan McCarthy posted his second two-goal game of the day while Janson Wigo also added a pair. Rudolph, Schwimer and Andrew LaForge also scored for the second consecutive game while Cody Wiesen rounded out Stanford's scoring.
After holding a lead of 4-2 following the opening period, the Cardinal outscored the Waves, 8-0, over the middle two periods to pull away.
Ryan Kent and Jacob Smith also added goals in the opener against Princeton.
Princeton - 0 1 2 3 - 6
Stanford - 3 3 3 5 - 14
Stanford Goal Scorers: Schwimer 4, McCarthy 2, Noll 2, Rudolph 2, Kent, LaForge, J. Smith, J. Wigo
Princeton Goal Scorers: Wigley 2, Ruth, Tifft, Wenzlau, Zalewski
Goalie Saves: Sandman 7, Platshon 1 (S); Hvidt 8 (P)
Pepperdine - 2 0 0 1 - 3
Stanford - 4 3 5 1 - 13
Stanford Goal Scorers: D. Wigo 4, McCarthy 2, J. Wigo 2, LaForge, Rudolph, Schwimer, Wiesen
Pepperdine Goal Scorers: Brown, Cardey, Snyder
Goalie Saves: Sandman 10, Platshon 1 (S); McClain 5, O'Connell 1 (P)