STANFORD, Calif. – Highlighted by eight home matches and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament at Avery Aquatic Center, the Stanford men's water polo program has unveiled its 2017 schedule.
The Cardinal will play 16 regular-season matches in addition to participating in the prestigious SoCal Tournament in Los Angeles and Rodeo Tournament in Santa Clara. In all, 12 of the other 19 teams (Stanford finished fifth) in the final 2016 top-20 Collegiate Water Polo Association national poll will be on the 2017 schedule.
A trip to the East Coast opens the season as Stanford faces Harvard, MIT, St. Francis and Brown in the two-day Bruno Classic, contested in both Providence, Rhode Island, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, the first weekend in September.
The first MPSF match of the season will take place Friday, Sept. 8, as Stanford meets NCAA runner-up USC at 5 p.m. PT in a contest scheduled to air live on Pac-12 Network.
Two weeks later, the Cardinal will return to Los Angeles to compete in the prestigious SoCal Tournament at USC, annually featuring several of the nation's top programs.
Stanford closes September hosting San Jose State in the first of eight regular-season home matches. The Cardinal will host UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, Oct. 12 to open a four-match homestand that also includes Bucknell (Oct. 20), Wagner (Oct. 20) and Pepperdine (Oct. 21).
Stanford will close the month of October on the road, competing in the Rodeo Tournament at Santa Clara (Oct. 22), along with trips to Long Beach State (Oct. 28) and UC Irvine (Oct. 29).
The Cardinal will spend the month of November at Avery Aquatic Center, hosting UCLA (Nov. 4), defending NCAA Champion California (Nov. 9) and Santa Clara (Nov. 11) to close out the regular season. The Big Splash, featuring Stanford and California, will televised live on Pac-12 Network at 2:30 p.m. PT. The Cardinal and Golden Bears have split the last four matches in the regular-season rivalry.
The Cardinal will host the MPSF Tournament this fall, welcoming California, UCLA, USC and Penn State Behrend to Stanford Friday through Sunday, Nov. 17-19.
The 2017 NCAA Championships will be contested at USC, Dec. 2-3.
Stanford, which ranked fifth in the final 2016 CWPA national poll, returns all but four members from last season's roster. The Cardinal welcomes back redshirt seniors Reid Chase, Drew Holland, Jackson Kimbell and Connor Stapleton, who did not see action last season. All four were starters for the Cardinal in 2015. Stanford will also add freshman Ben Hallock, who redshirted last season after competing with USA Water Polo in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, to its lineup in 2017. The Cardinal welcomes six newcomers – Tyler Abramson, Spencer Nelson, Parker Killion, Josh Orrick, Zack LaGrange and Sawyer Rhodes – to The Farm as part of its 2017 signing class.
2017 Schedule
| Date | Opponent | Location | Time (Listed in Pacific time zone) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sept. 2 | Harvard | Cambridge, Mass. | 9:00 a.m. |
| Sept. 2 | vs. MIT | Cambridge, Mass. | 12:00 p.m. |
| Sept. 3 | vs. St. Francis | Providence, R.I. | 7:30 a.m. |
| Sept. 3 | Brown | Providence, R.I. | 12:45 p.m. |
| Sept. 8 | USC | Los Angeles, Calif. | 5:00 p.m. |
| Sept. 22-24 | SoCal Tournament | Los Angeles, Calif. | TBD |
| Sept. 30 | San Jose State | Stanford, Calif. | TBD |
| Oct. 7 | Pacific | Stockton, Calif. | 12:00 p.m. |
| Oct. 14 | UC Santa Barbara | Stanford, Calif. | TBD |
| Oct. 20 | Bucknell | Stanford, Calif. | 4:00 p.m. |
| Oct. 20 | Wagner | Stanford, Calif. | 7:00 p.m. |
| Oct. 21 | Pepperdine | Stanford, Calif. | 1:00 p.m. |
| Oct. 22 | Rodeo Tournament | Santa Clara, Calif. | TBD |
| Oct. 28 | Long Beach State | Long Beach, Calif. | 12:00 p.m. |
| Oct. 29 | UC Urvine | Irvine, Calif. | 12:00 p.m. |
| Nov. 4 | UCLA | Stanford, Calif. | TBD |
| Nov. 9 | California | Stanford, Calif. | 2:30 p.m. |
| Nov. 11 | Santa Clara | Stanford, Calif. | 12:00 p.m. |
| Nov. 17-19 | MPSF Tournament | Stanford, Calif. | TBD |