TORONTO,Canada – The United States, featuring current Cardinal Bret Bonanni and Jackson Kimbell along with alumni Alex Bowen ’15 and Tony Azevedo ’04, won its sixth consecutive Pan Am Games gold medal in men’s water polo with Wednesday’s 11-9 victory over Brazil in Toronto, Canada.
Team USA had already earned a 2016 Olympic Games berth by virtue of its semifinal win over Canada on Monday, with the victory over Brazil capping an undefeated run in Toronto.
Bonanni, Azevedo and Bowen were three of the tournament’s top 20 scorers in Toronto. Bonanni, a 2014 FINA World Player of the Year finalist, was second at the Pan Am Games with 18 goals in The United States’ five wins. Azevedo tied for 14th by converting 10 of his 20 shots in four matches. Bowen’s eight goals placed the recent Stanford graduate in a tie for 20th.
The U.S. started off the week with a 27-0 romp over Ecuador on July 7 behind a nine-goal outburst from Bonanni, three from Bowen and two from Kimbell. Team USA beat Cuba the next day, 21-4, and received 10 goals from its Cardinal contingent, hat tricks for Azevedo and Bonanni and multi-goal efforts from Bowen and Kimbell. Five scores from Azevedo and three more from Bonanni helped the United States conclude group play with a 14-3 victory against Argentina on July 11.
Team USA’s 9-8 victory over Canada in Monday’s semifinals clinched its berth for the 2016 Olympic Games. Brazil, who the U.S. met in the championship, already qualified as Olympic host. Bowen (2), Bonanni (1) and Azevedo (1) each scored for the United States in the important win. All three also rattled the cage in yesterday’s final, with Bonanni scoring twice and Azevedo and Bowen once each.
✅ Qualified! Men's @USAWP qualifies for Rio at #TO2015! #GoTeamUSA DETAILS: http://t.co/xcuoUTrIW9 pic.twitter.com/1LhDDFMXqI
— U.S. Olympic Team (@TeamUSA) July 14, 2015
The United States scored 82 goals at the Pan Am Games (16.4 per game) and allowed just 24 (4.8 per game).
Next up for Team USA is the FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia beginning on July 27.
In 2014, Bonanni concluded his junior season at Stanford with a conference-leading 96 goals, just one shy of the single-season school-record 97 he tallied a year ago. He will enter his senior year on The Farm with 266 career scores, just 66 shy of Azevedo’s Stanford and MPSF record (332). Bonanni is the only Cardinal in history to post multiple 90-goal seasons.
Kimbell, who was Stanford’s highest-scoring rookie as a freshman in 2013 (26 goals), tallied 14 during his sophomore season, including five multi-goal games and one hat trick.
Bowen earned his fourth ACWPC First Team All-America honor after another superb season, becoming the first four-time first teamer at Stanford since Azevedo (2001-04). The senior finished his time on The Farm with 253 career goals and leaves third all-time at Stanford and eighth in MPSF history. In 2014, he was second on the Cardinal with 65 scores, including 19 multi-goal games and 12 hat tricks.
Bowen recently received his degree in product design as part of Stanford's 124th Commencement Exercises on June 14 and on June 11 received the Biff Hoffman Award at the annual Stanford Athletic Board Awards ceremony, given to an outstanding male senior.