LOS ANGELES – In a tightly contested men's water polo match, No. 6 Stanford and No. 1 UCLA came down to the final minutes, where the Bruins pulled out a 7-6 victory over the Cardinal at Spieker Aquatics Center.
While the Cardinal never led in the match, the score was tied on four different occasions. A goal by Marco Stanchi tied it up at 6-6 with 3:13 to play. Both teams tried to take advantage of power plays over the next several minutes in search of the game winner.
With 1:47 left in the contest, UCLA's Patrick Fellner found the back of the cage for his third goal of the game to put the Bruins back up. Stanford was aggressive in search of the tying score in the final 1:47, but fell just short.
The Cardinal moves to 12-4 on the season and 0-2 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). The Bruins extended their NCAA-record winning streak to 55 matches and improved to 22-0 on the season (2-0 MPSF).
Six different members of the Cardinal scored in the match, including Stanchi, Mitchell Mendoza, Harrison Enright, Sam Pfeil, Cody Smith and Spencer Rogers.
Junior Oliver Lewis played their entire match in the cage for Stanford, posting seven saves. His counterpart, Garrett Danner, registered eight stops for the Bruins.
Stanford returns to action next Saturday (Nov. 5) as the Cardinal hosts No. 4 Pacific at Avery Aquatic Center at 10 a.m. PT.
