Thriller Under The LightsThriller Under The Lights
Men's Water Polo

Thriller Under The Lights

Mountain Pacific Invitational Central Opens in a new window

STANFORD, Calif. – Freshman Jackson Seybold rattled the cage from long range with one-second remaining to lift No. 1 Stanford past No. 2 UCLA, 8-7, in a thrilling Mountain Pacific Invitational semifinal match Saturday night at Avery Aquatic Center.
 
Seybold's heroics sent Avery Aquatic Center into a frenzied celebration and sent the undefeated Cardinal (13-0) into Sunday's Mountain Pacific Invitational championship game. The Cardinal, which handed UCLA (18-1) its first loss of the season, is off to its best start in 17 years. Stanford will face No. 3 USC Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in the title match at Avery Aquatic Center.

"I am so impressed with the toughness and resilience of this team," said John Vargas, Stanford's Dunlevie Family Director of Men's Water Polo. "It was an exciting one. We had several guys step up and make huge plays. The crowd was great tonight. We are so fortunate to be playing this tournament here in such a great environment. One more tomorrow."


The matchup between the nation's top two teams lived up to its billing throughout. Tied at 5-5 in the fourth, senior Blake Parrish rattled the cage from long range to briefly put the Cardinal on top. UCLA's Nicolas Saveljic came right back to tie it 27 seconds later, however, and he put the Bruins ahead, 7-6, with 2:18 to go.
 
Facing its first deficit with less than a minute remaining this season, the Cardinal would not be denied. Ben Hallock found Bennett Williams in the corner and the junior skipped it past the goalie for the tying score with 54 seconds remaining.
 
UCLA took the ensuing possession, where Jake Cavano's shot attempt ricocheted off the cross bar. The Bruins corralled the rebound and sent one last shot towards the goal, but Seybold came up with a huge field block to deflect the shot wide right of the goal mouth.
 
Stanford took over possession with six seconds to go. Goalie Oliver Lewis sent it deep to Seybold, who was looking for Hallock. With time expiring and Hallock covered, the freshman found space and fired it from deep. The rocket snuck past the out-stretched arms of UCLA goalie Alex Wolf and into the cage, igniting a huge celebration from the Cardinal bench and the packed house at Avery.   


Lewis also came up big for the Cardinal time after time in the match, finishing with seven saves. Highlighting Lewis' night was a sequence of back-to-back stops within seconds of each other from close range late in the third. The second stop led to Seybold's first goal of the night on the other end.


Stanford had held a 4-1 lead early in the match, thanks to consecutive goals from Quinn Woodhead, AJ Rossman and Tyler Abramson. The Bruins responded with three goals of their own, however to tie it right back up and neither team led by more than one goal the rest of the way.   
 
Stanford's 13-0 start is its best since the Cardinal opened the 2001 campaign 17-0.