Stockton, Calif. – Facing its second top-five team in as many days, the No. 4 Stanford men’s water polo team dropped an 11-7 decision to No. 5 Pacific Sunday afternoon at Chris Kjeldsen Pool in Stockton, Calif.
Similar to its game a day earlier with No. 1 UCLA, Stanford (14-6, 0-3 MPSF) traded goals early on with its opponent. The Cardinal got a pair of scores from Adam Abdulhamid, and goals from Jackson Kimbell, Reid Chase and BJ Churnside. Senior Bret Bonanni capped Stanford’s first-half scoring with a goal off a long feed from goalie Drew Holland with a second left in the half to tie the game at 6-6.
Pacific broke the tie with consecutive goals midway through the third quarter and never looked back, recording five of the game’s last six goals over the final 20 minutes of play.
Churnside scored off a pass from Bonanni to pull the Cardinal within one goal at 8-7 with 1:02 to play in the third, but the Tigers responded with the final three scores to earn the 11-7 victory.
Holland posted 11 saves in the cage for the Cardinal.
With his team-leading 58th goal of the season on Sunday, Bonanni now has 324 for his career and is eight shy of tying Tony Azevedo’s (2001-04) Stanford and MPSF scoring record of 332 goals.
Stanford returns to action next Saturday as the Cardinal hosts UC Santa Barbara at 4 p.m. PT at Avery Aquatic Center. Admission is free.