WHAT’S AHEAD: No. 4 Stanford (5-0) hosts the Kap7 NorCal Invitational this Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 19-20, as 16 teams will compete at Avery Aquatic Center. The event will begin at 8 a.m. PT each day, with the Cardinal beginning play in the weekend tournament on Saturday at 10:50 a.m. PT against Santa Clara.
Kap7 NorCal INVITATIONAL: Stanford is one 16 teams competing in the Kap7 NorCal Invitational, including Air Force, Cal, Chapman, Long Beach State, Pepperdine, Princeton, Redlands, San Jose State, Santa Clara, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCSD, UC Santa Barbara, UCLA and USC.
In all, the Kap7 NorCal Invitational field includes the top four teams and 11 of the top 12 programs in this week’s Collegiate Water Polo Association poll.
The tournament will consist of 32 matches played over two days in two pools - Avery and Belardi - at the Avery Aquatic Center. Action will begin each day at 8 a.m. and conclude with the championship match at 6:15 p.m. on Sunday. Match times for Saturday are posted on the next page.
TICKETS: Fans can purchase tickets in advance of the Kap7 NorCal Invitational by clicking here. Stanford students are FREE with a valid student ID.
HOW TO FOLLOW: Fans can log on to GoStanford.com and click on the Kap7 NorCal Invitational page for updated results and score sheets from each contest.
A LOOK AT THE POLLS: Stanford remains at No. 4 in the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Poll released on Wednesday (Sept. 16). The Cardinal, which picked up one point from the previous week, have been ranked No. 4 in all three national polls during the 2015 season.
CHASING THE RECORD: Senior Bret Bonanni enters this weekend’s Kap7 Norcal Invitational just 39 goals from tying Tony Azevedo’s Stanford and MPSF record of 332 from 2001-04. After concluding his junior season with a conference-leading 96 goals, he opened the 2015 campaign with 27 goals in Stanford’s first five contests. The senior recorded a career-best nine goals in the season-opening victory over MIT on Sept. 5. Bonanni is the only Cardinal in history to post multiple 90-goal seasons.
19 GOALS AND COUNTING: Stanford has scored at least 19 goals in six straight games for the first time in the John Vargas era (dating back to 2002). The Cardinal posted 19 each against St. Francis Brooklyn and Brown, 20 against Bucknell, 21 against Harvard and a season-best 29 against MIT. The streak started with a 20-goal performance against UCSD in the NCAA third-place game on Dec. 7 of last season.
MOST GOALS SINCE: Stanford’s 29 goals against MIT on Sept. 5 were its most in a game in nearly three decades, matching the Cardinal’s 29 scores against Harvard in the Brown Invitational on Sept. 26, 1986.
REWIND TO 2014: The 2014 Stanford men’s water polo program posted its highest win total since 1994 and won the Cardinal’s first MPSF Championship since 2004. It finished third at the NCAA Championships and made back-to-back postseason appearances for the first time since five straight from 2001-05.
MPSF CHAMPS: Stanford earned an automatic berth into the NCAA Championship by virtue of claiming the MPSF tournament title. The Cardinal won the program’s fifth league championship, and first since 2004, with a 9-8 victory over tournament host Long Beach St. It also defeated Pepperdine (13-4) and USC (7-4) en route to the crown, which was added to the mantle alongside its trophies from 1994, 1998, 2001 and 2004. Stanford is the first of the conference’s northern brethren to win the title since Cal in 2006.
GLOBETROTTERS: Bret Bonanni and Jackson Kimbell made appearances for the USA Men’s Senior National Team this summer at various events across the globe alongside alumni Tony Azevedo and Alex Bowen, including the FINA World League Super Final (Bergamo, Italy), the Pan American Games (Toronto, Canada) and the FINA World Championships (Kazan, Russia). On its way to gold at the Pan American Games, Team USA’s semifinal victory over Canada clinched a 2016 Olympic Games berth. Drew Holland and alum Janson Wigo were also on the U.S. roster for the FINA Men’s Intercontinental Tournament.