Oct. 31, 2009
STANFORD, Calif. - A spirited, raucous crowd featuring many students dressed up for Halloween got a treat instead of a trick Saturday as the No. 3 Stanford men's water polo team used a big eight-goal second period to roll to a 13-8 victory over No. 9 UC Santa Barbara at Avery Aquatic Center.
The victory upped Stanford's mark to 16-1 and kept the Cardinal's MPSF record perfect at 4-0. Stanford remains home for its penultimate home contest of 2009, set for next Wednesday night, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. against UC Davis.
Sophomore Jacob Smith paced the Cardinal offense with five goals on the day, including three in the pivotal second frame. Travis Noll secured a hat trick with three scores in the contest while Alex Pulido scored twice. Individual goals were also scored by Paul Rudolph, Jeffrey Schwimer and Drac Wigo.
In the cage, goalie Jimmie Sandman made 10 saves before freshman Scott Platshon came on in relief in the final minutes and made a save of his own.
With plenty of students, especially freshmen, turning out to support the team on "Frosh Dorm Trivia Challenge Day," the Cardinal had a plenty of motivation to send the crowd home happy. The Gauchos, though, hushed the crowd briefly when Milos Golic, who scored six times in the game, fired home the game's first goal just 30 seconds in on a 6-on-5 situation.
The crowd would recover to fire up the Cardinal on its next possession, as Smith converted on the man-advantage just 32 seconds later to tie it up at 1-1.
Things would stay that way for the next four minutes until Golic struck again to put UCSB back up a goal, but a few minutes later, with 34 seconds remaining in the period, Stanford's Ryan Kent found Rudolph behind his defender in front of the cage and fed him a crisp pass that Rudolph easily finished to knot things up at 2-2 after the opening eight minutes.
That would end up being the closest it got for the Gauchos in the game, as Stanford unleashed an onslaught of goals in the second period, starting with Wigo's 6-on-5 strike just 37 seconds after the opening sprint. The Cardinal would score on each of its first three possessions of the frame, as Noll and Pulido followed Wigo's score with goals of their own to put Stanford up 5-2 with a span of 1:33.
Two minutes later, Schwimer netted his goal after battling his way to possession in front and whipping a shot past UCSB goalie Fraser Bunn to make it five in a row for the Cardinal.
The teams would combine for three goals (two by UCSB) within a 43-second span soon after Schwimer's goal, making it 7-4 in favor of the Cardinal before Stanford ended the half with another outburst.
Noll started the quick 3-0 run with another man-up score with 1:59 to go in the half, then Smith followed up with goals at the 1:19 and 0:28 marks to put Stanford comfortably ahead 10-4 at the break.
With a pair of goals in the third period and the first goal of the final frame, the Gauchos managed to climb within shouting distance of the Cardinal at 11-7 with 6:05 left to play, but Stanford would quickly slam the door.
Smith tossed in his fifth goal of the game on the ensuing Cardinal possession to make it 12-7, then the Cardinal defense, anchored by Sandman, would go on to deny UCSB over the next five and a half minutes. Pulido would score with 3:51 to play to round out the Cardinal scoring before UCSB finished things with a Golic goal with 47 seconds remaining.
UC Santa Barbara - 2 2 2 2 = 8
Stanford - 2 8 1 2 = 13
Stanford Goal Scorers: J. Smith 5, Noll 3, Pulido 2, Rudolph, Schwimer, D. Wigo
UCSB Goal Scorers: Golic 6, Castillo, Partelow
Goalie Saves: Sandman 10, Platshon 1 (S); Bunn 3, Christian 3 (UCSB)