WHAT’S NEXT: No. 3 Stanford travels to Southern California for the second straight week when the Cardinal competes in the Kap7 SoCal Invitational this weekend, hosted by Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount. The Cardinal will open play in the two-day event Saturday, Oct. 10 against Concordia at 8 a.m.
SoCAL INVITATIONAL: Similar to the Kap7 NorCal Invitational Sept. 19-20 at Avery Aquatic Center, the Kap7 SoCal Invitational features 16 of the top teams in the nation in the two-day tournament. Pepperdine and LMU will serve as co-hosts for the event, with the Cardinal beginning play against Concordia on the LMU campus Saturday morning. Should Stanford win each of its two games on Saturday, it will play two games on the Pepperdine campus on Sunday.
HOW TO FOLLOW: All of the Kap7 SoCal Invitational games played at Pepperdine this weekend will be streamed live on CampusInsiders.com. Stanford’s first two games on Saturday will be at the Burns Aquatics Center on the campus of Loyola Marymount. Should the Cardinal win its first two games, it will move over to Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool on the Pepperdine campus. Live stats are available for each game played at LMU by clicking here.
A LOOK AT THE POLLS: The Cardinal moved to No. 3 in this week’s Collegiate Water Polo Association national poll, swapping places with USC following its defeat to the Trojans last Saturday. Stanford has been in the top four of the national poll every week this season.
CHASING THE RECORD: Senior Bret Bonanni enters the Kap7 SoCal Invitational just 21 goals shy 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 has a team-leading 45 goals in Stanford’s first 14 games. 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. He has scored in 13 of Stanford’s 14 games with multiple goals in 10 contests this season.
Bonanni has recorded 80 career multiple goal games and 60 career hat tricks.
51 STRAIGHT: Senior Bret Bonanni scored at least one goal in 51 straight games from Oct. 13, 2013 to Sept. 20, 2015. His streak was snapped when he was held scoreless in Stanford’s 6-5 victory No. 2 USC in the semifinals of the NorCal Invitational.
NINE IN A ROW: Stanford’s eight wins to open the 2015 season, coupled with its victory over UCSD in the NCAA Third Place game to close the 2014 campaign, gave the Cardinal nine-straight wins. It’s the longest winning streak since Stanford won 11 consecutive contests during the 2013 season.
MPSF LEADER: Senior Bret Bonanni (45) leads the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in scoring, averaging 3.21 goals per game. Redshirt junior Adam Abdulhamid (37) ranks third in the league, averaging 2.64 goals per game. Senior Drew Holland ranks fourth among regular starters in the MPSF in goals against average at 6.01.
As a team, Stanford ranks second in scoring (16.71 Goals/Game) and third in defense (giving up 5.36 Goals/Game).
ABDULHAMID SCORING: Redshirt junior Adam Abdulhamid, who scored 14 goals in four wins at the Aggie Roundup Sept. 26-27, is second on the team with 37 for the season. The 37 goals in 14 games has already surpassed his 31 goals in 30 games during the 2014 season. Abdulhamid has scored a career-high five goals twice this season, in the season opener against MIT and Sept. 27 against Santa Clara.
MENDOZA STARTING STRONG: In his first season of action after redshirting as a true freshman last year, Mitchell Mendoza has scored at least one goal in 13 of Stanford’s 14 games. He ranks third on the team in scoring with 23 goals. Mendoza has scored in each of the last seven contests for the Cardinal.
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.
19 IN SIX: Stanford scored at least 19 goals in six straight games (first six games of the season) 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, 2014.
LAST TIME VS. CONCORDIA: The Cardinal posted a 20-3 win over Concordia on Sept. 26 in Davis, Calif. Stanford jumped out to a 5-1 lead after one quarter. The Cardinal added six goals in the second to build an 11-2 halftime advantage. Three goals in the third and six goals in the fourth, highlighted by four-straight from Justin Roberto in a span of 3:28 of the final period, gave Stanford the 20-3 win. Roberto (4), Bret Bonanni (2), Adam Abdulhamid (2), Mitchell Mendoza (2), Reid Chase (2), Kyle Weikert (2) and Williams (2) each had multiple goals, while Marco Stanchi, Spencer Rogers, Sam Pfeil and Blake Parrish rounded out the scoring with a goal apiece for the Cardinal. Sophomore goalie Oliver Lewis got the recording eight saves in the win.