REDLANDS, Calif. – The No. 1 Stanford men’s water polo team opened up its 2014 season with a weekend sweep, finishing off the perfect three-game trip with Sunday victories over No. 23 Pomona-Pitzer and Redlands at the Inland Empire Classic. The Cardinal downed the Sagehens, 21-5, took out the host Bulldogs, 22-4, and when combined with yesterday’s 20-8 win over Concordia, Stanford outscored its opponents 63-17 during its SoCal sojourn.
Freshman Cody Smith led Stanford’s scorers on the weekend with 11 goals, followed closely by Bret Bonanni’s 10. Drew Holland made 15 saves in six quarters of action during the three games, surrendering just six goals.
The Cardinal (3-0) returns to the pool in Stockton next weekend at the 2014 Kap7 NorCal Classic. Stanford opens the event as the tournament’s No. 1 seed at 8 a.m. on Saturday in a rematch with Redlands (1-7).
No. 1 Stanford 22 – Redlands 4
Stanford spread the wealth more than in any game this weekend against Redlands. Cody Smith, Griffin Bolan and Sam Pfeil each tallied three goals to lead a group of 12 Cardinal which scored in a 22-4 over Redlands to close out the Inland Empire Classic.
The Cardinal raced out to a 9-0 lead courtesy of a nearly flawless first period that featured two goals each from Alex Bowen and Bret Bonanni and added scores from Adam Abdulhamid, Pfeil, Connor Stapleton, Smith and Jackson Kimbell.
Redlands was able to get on the board with two goals in the second, but it wasn’t enough to cut into Stanford’s growing advantage. Following a quiet first five minutes of the frame, Bolan (3:06 and 1:48), Davis Clute (0:53) and Pfeil (0:23) stringed together a quartet of late goals to give Stanford a comfortable 13-2 gap heading into the break.
Drew Holland made six saves in the cage in the first two quarters before giving way to Oliver Lewis in the third (two saves) and Sam Sunde in the fourth (four saves).
Stanford would score four more coming out of the intermission, highlighted by Adam Warmoth’s pair during the quarter. After scoring once last season, the redshirt sophomore put three through to the back of the cage on Sunday.
It was a 4-0 final eight minutes for the Cardinal off of scores from Stapleton (2:36), Justin Roberto (1:48), Smith (0:57) and Bolan (0:18).
No. 1 Stanford vs. Redlands
Sept. 14, 2014 • Redlands, Calif.
STAN 9 - 4 - 5 - 4 = 22
RED 0 - 2 - 2 - 0 = 4
Redlands Goals: Shippen 2, Sekula, Robinson
Stanford Goals: Griffin Bolan 3, Sam Pfeil 3, Cody Smith 3, Bret Bonanni 2, Alex Bowen 2, Connor Stapleton 2, Adam Warmoth 2, Adam Abdulhamid, Reid Chase, Davis Clute, Jackson Kimbell, Justin Roberto
Stanford Saves: Drew Holland 6 (two quarters), Oliver Lewis 2 (one quarter), Sam Sunde 4 (one quarter)
No. 1 Stanford 21 – No. 12 Pomona-Pitzer 5
Nine different Cardinal found the back of the cage in another dominant effort for the No. 1 Stanford men’s water polo team, which improved to 2-0 with a 21-5 victory over No. 23 Pomona-Pitzer at the Inland Empire Classic on Sunday morning.
Like yesterday, Bret Bonanni got things going for Stanford (2-0) with a pair of tallies in the opening quarter, scoring at 7:44 and 3:47. Connor Stapleton fired home a power play goal (3:09) before freshman Cody Smith continued his strong start to 2014 with his fourth career goal at 2:49.
Pomona-Pitzer’s (0-5) Nic Lanker ended Stanford’s game-opening 4-0 run at 2:38 in the opening frame, but Sam Pfeil (1:42) and Griffin Bolan (0:19) closed out the period with two more scores to put the Cardinal on top 6-1 after one. It was the first goal for Pfeil, a 6-foot-4 redshirt freshman driver from Laguna, Nigel, Calif.
Bolan and Pfeil’s goals kick started a 5-0 spurt for Stanford which ran into the second quarter. Playing a man up, Bonanni put home his third of the game (7:31). BJ Churnside was successful with another exclusion goal (6:17) and Smith ended the run with another at 4:44.
The Sagehens scored on a penalty with 4:01 until the break to pull to within seven, 9-2, but the Cardinal closed the first half with goals from Stapleton (3:00), Smith (1:41) and Kyle Weikert (1:21) as Stanford led 12-2 at the half.
Sophomore Drew Holland played the first two periods in the cage for Stanford, making five saves. Freshman Oliver Lewis came on in the third, stopping two, before yielding to redshirt freshman Sam Sunde, who made a save in the fourth.
The Cardinal scored six times for the third consecutive quarter coming out of intermission. Bonanni again sparked Stanford with his goal at 6:51. Smith scored two more (5:21 and 4:52) after Pomona-Pitzer slipped one past Lewis for its third goal of the game.
Bolan (3:52), Pfeil (2:32) and Adam Warmoth (1:09) gave Stanford an 18-4 lead after 24 minutes and the Cardinal cruised to the 21-5 final as Davis Clute (7:05 and 3:58) and Weikert (0:47) combined for three goals in the final quarter.
Stanford was 4-for-5 on power plays while the Sagehens were 0-for-4. The Cardinal did not attempt a penalty.
No. 1 Stanford vs. No. 23 Pomona-Pitzer
Sept. 14, 2014 • Redlands, Calif.
P-P 1 - 1 - 2 - 1 = 5
STAN 6 - 6 - 6 - 3 = 21
Pomona-Pitzer Goals: Baker 2, Lanker, Turner, Hallman
Stanford Goals: Cody Smith 5, Bret Bonanni 4, Griffin Bolan 2, Davis Clute 2, Sam Pfeil 2, Connor Stapleton 2, Kyle Weikert 2, BJ Churnside, Adam Warmoth
Stanford Saves: Drew Holland 5 (two quarters), Oliver Lewis 2 (one quarter), Sam Sunde 1 (one quarter)