LOS ANGELES – No. 3 Stanford men's water polo responded from an early 2-1 deficit with five consecutive goals and never looked back, en route to a 9-6 victory over Long Beach State to advance to the semifinals of the Mountain Pacific Invitational Saturday evening.
The Cardinal now set its sights on a matchup with No. 2 USC at 5:45 p.m. PT at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center on the Trojans' campus. The winner will head to tomorrow's Mountain Pacific Invitational championship match.
After senior Reid Chase opened the scoring with a goal midway through the opening quarter, Long Beach State recorded a pair of scores to jump ahead of the Cardinal (6-1) at the end of the period.
Stanford responded, scoring five unanswered goals to surge ahead for good. Senior Connor Stapleton found junior Blake Parrish for the score 23 seconds into the second quarter to even things up. Less than a minute later, Parrish put Stanford ahead for good with another score.
Freshman Sawyer Rhodes and senior Cody Smith each scored to close the half and give Stanford a 5-2 advantage at the break.
Freshman Ben Hallock capped the Cardinal scoring surge with a goal 35 seconds into the second half to extend the advantage.
Meanwhile, the Stanford defense, anchored by senior goalie Drew Holland, held the 49ers off the scoreboard for a span of 13:25, while pulling out to the four-goal lead.
Long Beach State found the back of the cage midway through the third quarter to pull within three goals, but the Cardinal responded 16 seconds later with a goal from freshman Tyler Abramson. Stanford added to its lead with a Bennett Williams goal late in the quarter to head into the final period with a five-goal advantage.
Stanford and LBSU traded scores early in the fourth with Chase finding the back of the cage for the Cardinal to make it 9-4. The 49ers registered a pair of goals in the final five minutes, but could not get any closer as Stanford punched its ticket to the Mountain Pacific Invitational semifinals with the 9-6 victory.
Holland started and played the whole match in the cage for the Cardinal, posting a season-high 13 saves.