LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The No. 1 Stanford men’s water polo team cut into a three-goal UCLA lead late in the fourth quarter and pulled to within one with under a minute to go, but BJ Churnside’s attempt with 10 seconds left was blocked and the No. 3 Bruins came away winners in Westwood on Friday evening, 7-6.
It was the third meeting of the season between the two schools, pitting the top MPSF offense (Stanford) against its top defense (UCLA), and third time that the nation’s top-ranked team came up just short in those games. On Sunday, Sept. 21, No. 2 UCLA came out on top over No. 1 Stanford in the championship of the Kap7 NorCal Classic in Stockton, Calif., 9-7. The No. 2 Cardinal responded on Oct. 12 with a 7-6 victory over No. 1 UCLA in the third-place game at the SoCal Tournament in Los Angeles.
Trailing 7-4 late in the fourth quarter, Bret Bonanni scored his first goal of the game (2:57) when his shot, aimed right, was deflected by UCLA’s Paul Reynolds back to the left, across the front of goalkeeper Garrett Danner and into the rear of the cage. With less than a minute left, Bonanni faked a shot and lobbed a pass down to Jackson Kimbell, who put home his second of the second half with 59.6 ticks left on the clock to bring Stanford within one, 7-6.
A defensive stop gave the Cardinal one last chance to tie the game and send it into overtime, but a field block kept Churnside’s shot from making it to Danner in the cage. The Bruins (20-2, 4-0 MPSF) controlled and ran out the final 10 seconds to seal the win.
The loss was Stanford’s first of the MPSF season. The Cardinal are now 17-3 overall and 3-1 in conference action.
Stanford, which didn’t trail at all in wins last weekend over No. 1 USC and No. 8 UCSB, scored first in this one. Churnside tallied his 31st of the year with just a minute gone by in the opening period immediately after the Cardinal shut down a Ryder Roberts breakaway.
The Bruins’ Anthony Daboub tied things up at 4:23 in the first and then UCLA would score the first two of the second on goals from Danny McClintick (7:36) and Gordon Marshall (6:07) to inch out in front, 3-1.
Adam Abdulhamid fought for position in front of the cage and floated one across the line with 4:18 remaining until halftime to stem the mini-run for UCLA. The lefthander Roberts threaded the needle for his only goal of the game (2:57) before Sam Pfeil successfully converted Stanford’s first 6-on-5 opportunity of the match. The redshirt freshman looked off Danner then swung his left-handed rocket past UCLA’s keeper with 1:37 to go to make the score 4-3 at the break.
Just as they would connect at the game’s end, Bonanni dropped one off for Kimbell to start the scoring in the third quarter. Kimbell would take the pass, rise and score at the 4:52 mark to tie the game for the final time, 4-4.
Jack Fellner (3:47) and Gordon Marshall (0:34.7) closed out the scoring in the third and Reynolds opened it up in the fourth (7:41) to grow UCLA’s margin to its largest of the game, 7-4, before Stanford made its late run.
The Cardinal will have a day off before heading to Malibu to meet No. 11 Pepperdine (8-9, 0-3 MPSF) on Sunday at 1 p.m.
No. 1 Stanford at No. 3 UCLA
Oct. 24, 2014 • Los Angeles, Calif.
UCLA 1– 3 – 2 – 1 = 7
STAN 1 – 2 – 1 – 2 = 6
UCLA Goals: Gordon Marshall 2, Anthony Daboub, Danny McClintick, Ryder Roberts, Jack Fellner, Paul Reynolds
UCLA Saves: Garrett Danner 8
Stanford Goals: Jackson Kimbell 2, BJ Churnside, Adam Abdulhamid, Sam Pfeil, Bret Bonanni
Stanford Saves: Drew Holland 5