Oct. 24, 2010
MALIBU, Calif. - The final trip to Southern California for the fourth-ranked Stanford men's water polo team this season ended on a high note Sunday as the Cardinal routed No. 10 Pepperdine, 15-6, in Malibu.
Jacob Smith and Sage Wright each tallied a hat trick Sunday, as the Cardinal improved to 9-5 overall and 3-1 in MPSF play. Pepperdine dropped to 8-11 overall and 0-4 in MPSF play.
Paul Rudolph and Forrest Watkins added a pair of goals each in the win, while additional goals were scored by Ryan Brown, Travis Noll, Tim Norton, Alex Pulido and Peter Sefton.
On the other side of the tank, goalie Brian Pingree stopped eight shots while limiting the Waves to just six goals. Pingree's play in the opening period, in which he anchored the defense's efforts in keeping Pepperdine off the board as the Cardinal scored five times.
Those five first-period goals powered the Cardinal to a big lead early on, one which Stanford continued to build. Four more goals in the second frame against just three for the Waves gave Stanford a comfortable 9-3 lead going into the locker room at halftime.
Stanford continued to dominate on both sides of the ball in the second half, with the offense scoring four more times and the defense limiting Pepperdine to just one goal in the third period. With a 13-4 lead and only eight minutes remaining in the contest, the Cardinal had effectively wrapped up its third conference win.
Each team would score twice in the fourth to account for the game's final score. Stanford, which peppered the Wave goal all day, forcing goalie Bence Valics to make 15 saves, made good use of its special teams Sunday, converting on two of its five extra-man opportunities.
Stanford - 5 4 4 2 = 15
Pepperdine - 0 3 1 2 = 6
Stanford Goal Scorers: Smith 3, Wright 3, Rudolph 2, Watkins 2, Brown, Noll, Norton, Pulido, Sefton
Pepperdine Goal Scorers: Picone 2, Schrimpf 2, Learmouth, Tragitt
Goalie Saves: Pingree 8 (S); Valics 15 (P)