STANFORD, Calif. – BJ Churnside and Bret Bonanni combined to score seven goals and Drew Holland made a career-high 17 saves to lead the No. 2 Stanford men’s water polo team to a 12-6 victory over No. 9 UC Irvine at Avery Aquatic Center on Saturday morning.
With the result, Stanford moves to 11-1 overall on the year and 1-0 in MPSF play. The Cardinal is off to its best start since it began the 2009 season 19-1.
Stanford, which had scored 20 or more in eight of its first 11 games, had to wait a little longer that normal to get on the board. Churnside (electrical engineering major) scored the only goals of the first quarter at 3:55 and 1:02 to give his team a 2-0 lead after the opening eight minutes. The junior driver ended with four scores for the second consecutive game.
“We hit a lot of posts and took some early shots, but I think we kept the tempo of the game,” Churnside said. “Defensively we were fine. We were in control the whole time.”
Some impressive work from Drew Holland in the cage is what led to Stanford’s first goal. The sophomore shut down a penalty from Lovre Milos, the conference’s leading scorer, before Churnside converted his 6-on-5 opportunity. Another Holland save led to a break for Churnside which set up the Cardinal’s second goal late in the first.
Holland was magnificent running the point on Stanford’s defensive efforts. Not only did he make a career-high 17 saves, but he also turned away each of Milos’ five shots. The Irvine (10-4, 0-2) sophomore entered Saturday with an MPSF-leading 58 goals in 13 games (4.46 GPG) and was on pace to break the league single-season scoring record.
“Drew is definitely a main leader for our defense,” Churnside added. “It’s great to have him in the cage keeping us pumped up at all times. He always reminds us that defense in the most important part of any game. If our opponent doesn’t score then we’re going to win.”
Holland’s 17 stops eclipsed the 16 he had in the MPSF Quarterfinals last Nov. 29 against Long Beach State, another 12-6 Stanford victory.
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A stingy effort at one end of the pool was backed up by some enterprising offense at the other end. Stanford extended its lead to 4-0 early in the second when Nick Hoversten scored off an assist from Adam Abdulhamid (7:23) and Bret Bonnani (science, technology and society major) added his first of the game shortly after (6:37).
Irvine’s Matt Skinner scored three unanswered to trim Stanford’s lead to one, 4-3, with under a minute until the halftime horn, but freshman Cody Smith responded with his 24th of the season just 29 seconds before intermission as the Cardinal took a 5-3 lead into the break.
A pass from Churnside put Jackson Kimbell in position to increase the advantage to 6-3 at 7:11 in the third. A Kimbell attempt two minutes later led to a 1-on-1 opportunity for UCI’s Alan Robertson, which was successful. Connor Stapleton’s shot barred in with 1:54 left in the third and Churnside got his hat trick with 1:32 on the clock before Robertson pulled the Anteaters’ within three, 8-5, heading into the fourth.
UC Irvine’s Ryan Warde skipped one in with seven minutes left to make the score 8-6, but Stanford responded by putting in the game’s final four to leave Avery with the 12-6 victory. Bonanni (7:13) and Abdulhamid (6:22) began the run, which was highlighted by another Bonanni rocket that rattled the cage at 2:48. Churnside’s fourth and Stanford’s final tally came with 0:48 to go.
“We’ve always been an offensively-minded team because we have a lot of great shooters on the outside,” Churnside said. “We played well defensively, but need to continue to improve – keep tempo with our defense, listen to our goalie, listen to our 2-meter guard and make it our top priority.”
Stanford travels to Davis tomorrow for a noon meeting with the No. 11 Aggies. The Cardinal’s next home game is against No. 4 USC on Saturday, Oct. 18 at 10:30 a.m. and will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks.
No. 2 Stanford vs. No. 9 UC Irvine
Oct. 4, 2014 • Stanford, Calif.
UCI 0 – 3 – 2 – 1 = 6
STAN 2 – 3 – 3 – 4 = 12
UCI Goals: Matt Skinner 3, Alan Robertson 2, Ryan Warde
UCI Saves: Michael Bailey 10
Stanford Goals: BJ Churnside 4, Bret Bonanni 3, Jackson Kimbell, Adam Abdulhamid, Nick Hoversten, Connor Stapleton, Cody Smith
Stanford Saves: Drew Holland 17