Nov. 5, 2011
LONG BEACH, Calif. - Fourth-ranked Stanford men's water polo bounced back from last weekend's defeat at USC, routing No. 7 Long Beach State, 11-3, Saturday afternoon.
The win ups Stanford's overall record to 15-4 and its MPSF mark to 4-2. The Cardinal heads to Irvine tomorrow for a 12 noon matchup against the UC Irvine Anteaters.
Alex Bowen netted a hat trick to pace the Cardinal offense Saturday. Paul Rudolph, Peter Sefton and Forrest Watkins each scored twice and single goals were added by Travis Noll and Jacob Smith.
Defensively, goalie Brian Pingree made five saves as the Cardinal limited the 49ers to just three goals. The three-goal output by Long Beach State is a season-low for an MPSF opponent against the Stanford defense, which is ranked second in the conference.
That defense kept the 49ers off the board for the first 8:35 of the contest. By that time, Stanford held a 3-0 lead thanks to first-period goals from Watkins and Noll, and a goal from Smith just 19 seconds into the second frame.
The 49ers would get to within a goal with 2:47 to go in the half after Dan Matulis found the back of the cage, but Rudolph answered 19 seconds later and the Cardinal led 4-2 at the break.
Milos Vrzic's goal 44 seconds into the second half pulled Long Beach State to within a goal once again, but at that point the Cardinal defense dug in, not conceding the rest of the contest. Pingree and the Stanford defense kept the 49ers out of the cage for the remaining 15:16 of the contest.
On the other end, Stanford's offense stepped it up, ending the game with a 7-0 run. That run started with Bowen scoring with 5:52 remaining in the third period. Sefton would find the back of the cage followed by Bowen's second with under a minute in the frame to put the Cardinal in control at 7-3.
Goals from Rudolph and Watkins sealed the contest by the middle of the fourth period, leaving Bowen and Sefton to finish off the scoring over the final 1:22.
Stanford - 2 2 3 4 = 11
Long Beach State - 0 2 1 0 = 3
Stanford Goal Scorers: Bowen 3, Rudolph 2, Sefton 2, Watkins 2, Noll, Smith
Long Beach State Goal Scorers: Matulis, Reilly, Vrzic
Goalie Saves: Pingree 5 (S); Kubeck 4 (LBSU)