DAVIS, Calif. – The No. 2 Stanford men’s water polo team swept Chapman and Occidental by a combined score of 51-4 at the Aggie Shootout on Saturday and handed head coach John Vargas his 250th career win in the process. The Cardinal (8-1) opened the morning with a 26-3 victory over the Panthers and widened that margin of victory in the evening, dispatching the Tigers 25-1.
Junior driver Bret Bonanni scored seven times in the two games, inching closer to the rarified air of Stanford’s 200-goal club. He entered the tournament with 191 in just over two years on The Farm and now has 198. At the Kap7 NorCal Classic last weekend, senior utility Alex Bowen hit the impressive milestone to join Tony Azevedo (332; 2001-04), James Bergeson (235; 1979-82), Jody Campbell (211; 1978-81) and Wolf Wigo (203; 1991-94).
Vargas, in his 13th year at the helm of the Cardinal program, won his 250th in the evening triumph against Occidental and has now won 76.2 percent of his games for Stanford (250 of 328).
No. 2 Stanford 26 – Chapman 3
Sam Pfeil led the way with a career-high five goals and 12 different Cardinal scored in Stanford’s 26-3 tournament-opening victory against Chapman.
Bonanni and Bowen combined to put home their team’s first three scores before Chapman answered with a 6-on-5 goal at 5:39 in the opening period. The next seven tallies would come from Stanford, started with a power play goal from Nick Hoversten at 5:29 in the first and capped with Griffin Bolan’s 11th of the season at 6:10 in the second.
Chapman’s second goal ignited another extended Cardinal spurt as grew its lead from 10-2 in the middle of the second to 26-2 with 21 seconds left. The Panthers scored just four seconds before the final horn to make it 26-3.
The third quarter was Stanford’s least fruitful, relatively speaking. Pfeil scored two exclusion goals and was backed up with single scores from Davis Clute and Justin Roberto before the floodgates again opened in the fourth. The Cardinal rattled the cage eight times in the final frame, courtesy of Bonanni, Bowen, Cody Smith, Roberto, Bolan, Clute and another pair of goals from Pfeil.
Stanford was 6-for-8 on the power play and converted 26 of its 38 shots (68.4 percent). Drew Holland made one save and allowed two goals in the first half. Freshman Oliver Lewis played the final 16 minutes, making two saves and giving up only that late goal with four seconds on the clock.
No. 1 Stanford vs. Chapman
Sept. 27, 2014 • Davis, Calif.
CHAP 1 – 1 – 0 – 1 = 3
STAN 8 – 6 – 4 – 8 = 26
Chapman Goals: Jake Gross, Mackey McGibben, Peter Loakes
Chapman Saves: Ian Decker 4, Brody Zachary 2, Stephen Neil
Stanford Goals: Sam Pfeil 5, Bret Bonanni 4, Griffin Bolan 3, Alex Bowen 2, Davis Clute 2, Nick Hoversten 2, Justin Roberto 2 , Cody Smith 2, Adam Abdulhamid, Reid Chase, BJ Churnside, Connor Stapleton
Stanford Saves: Oliver Lewis 2, Drew Holland
No. 2 Stanford 25 – Occidental 1
Griffin Bolan scored four goals for the first time since last year against Whittier (Dec. 5), Bret Bonnani, Alex Bowen and Cody Smith added three apiece and Adam Abdulhamid added a trio of his own, the redshirt sophomore’s second career hat trick, to pace the Cardinal to a 25-1 victory over Occidental in Stanford’s nightcap.
As in the first game, 12 different caps scored for the Cardinal, as Stanford passed the 20-goal plateau for the sixth time in its first nine games. At 8-1 overall, Stanford is averaging 19.22 goals per game, while only surrendering 5.00 per outing.
Against Occidental, Drew Holland again played the first half, made one save and allowed one score. Oliver Lewis played the second and stopped three without surrendering a goal.
Stanford was 1-for-2 in 6-on-5 opportunities while the Tigers were 0-for-5.
The Cardinal closes out the Aggie Shootout with games tomorrow against No. 18 Navy (9:10 a.m.) and No. 19 Whittier (11:30 a.m.)
No. 1 Stanford vs. Occidental
Sept. 27, 2014 • Davis, Calif.
OCC 0 – 1 – 0 – 0 = 1
STAN 7 – 4 – 9 – 5 = 25
Occidental Goals: Matt Weiser
Occidental Saves: Adam Florsheim 4, Josh Needleman 3
Stanford Goals: Griffin Bolan 4, Adam Abdulhamid 3, Bret Bonanni 3, Alex Bowen 3, Cody Smith 3, BJ Churnside 2, Connor Stapleton 2, Reid Chase, Conner Cleary, Sam Pfeil, Justin Roberto, Kyle Weikert
Stanford Saves: Oliver Lewis 3, Drew Holland