STANFORD, Calif. – No. 5 Stanford men's water polo will host No. 8 UC Irvine in its home opener Saturday at 1 p.m. PT at Avery Aquatic Center.
The Cardinal enters Saturday's match 4-0 on the season after a sweep in Southern California. Stanford defeated UC San Diego(15-5) and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (15-3) last Saturday in the Triton Invitational in San Diego, before posting wins over Chapman (18-1) and Redlands (15-4) last Sunday in the UCLA Invitational, also held in San Diego.
Stanford is outscoring its opponents 63-13, with a 22-2 advantage in goals in the first quarter, through its four contests.
Sophomore Mitchell Mendoza leads the Cardinal offensively with 13 goals. He was voted the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Player of the Week on Monday. He registered multiple scores in each match last weekend. Mendoza scored a team-high five goals in the win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. The sophomore also posted three scores each in the victory over No. 9 UC San Diego and the win over Redlands. He had two first-quarter goals in the win over Chapman.
Fellow sophomore Blake Parrish has scored 11 goals on the season, while junior Cody Smith has recorded 10 scores in the first four matches.
Freshman goalie Andrew Chun was honored as the MPSF Newcomer of the Week, after making his collegiate debut last Sunday. Chun started and played the entire match in the cage with nine saves in the win over Chapman. He again played the entire match in goal against Redlands, registering eight saves.
Junior Oliver Lewis started in the cage for the Cardinal in wins against UCSD and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, posting 11 saves against the Tritons.
UC Irvine is 1-1 on the season, defeating Cal Lutheran (11-5) and falling to No. 2 USC (14-3), also competing in the Triton Invitational.
In the lone meeting between the two schools last season, Drew Holland posted an MPSF single-game record 23 saves to highlight No. 5 Stanford's 7-0 shutout victory over No. 7 UC Irvine in Irvine, Calif.
