STANFORD, Calif. – In a wild Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opener between two of the nation's best, No. 3 Stanford men's water polo scored early and often to upend No. 1 USC, 13-11, in front of a spirited crowd Saturday afternoon at Avery Aquatic Center.
The Cardinal remained perfect on the season at 9-0, matching its best start since 2009. Stanford (9-0, 1-0 MPSF) handed USC (17-1, 0-1 MPSF) its first loss of the season. The Trojans had not allowed more than nine goals in a match all season, before surrendering 13 to the Cardinal on Saturday. With Saturday's two-goal victory, Stanford has won all nine of its matches by double digits this year.
"This was a great game and a great win in an amazing environment," said Stanford's Dunlevie Family Director of Men's Water Polo, John Vargas. "Credit to all the guys. They played really well, especially the freshmen. Ben is clearly our leader and he showed it again today with another great performance not only in his play but how he led our guys. The crowd was amazing. Having the band come to play before the game started was awesome."
The Cardinal opened the scoring with a Dylan Woodhead score midway through the contest, before the Trojans responded with a score less than a minute later. The two men's water polo powerhouses continued that sequence twice more, with Ben Hallock and Blake Parrish netting goals for the Cardinal.
Hallock scored his second goal with 50 seconds remaining in the quarter to start a Stanford three-goal run that kept the Cardinal ahead for good. The sophomore All-American recorded his sixth hat trick of the season nine minutes into the match with an early-second quarter score. Freshman AJ Rossman capped the Cardinal run 1:10 later to put Stanford ahead 6-3.
USC closed it to one late in the second, before freshman Jackson Seybold found the back of the cage just before halftime to give the Cardinal some cushion at the break.
3Q 7:05 | Seybold finds the upper right corner of the cage for his second goal of the match to put the Cardinal back up three scores. #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/IE1geClR7S
— Stanford Water Polo (@StanfordMWP) October 6, 2018
Stanford scored five of the next six goals overall with Seybold, Woodhead, Hallock and Marco Stanchi finding the back of the cage to stretch the Cardinal advantage to 12-7 midway through the third quarter. Hallock lobbed it over the USC goalie for his fourth score of the game and Stanchi rattled the cage from long range for the five-goal advantage.
3Q 4:17 | Hallock with the lob for the score. #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/EZGucBh2Bq
— Stanford Water Polo (@StanfordMWP) October 6, 2018
The top-ranked Trojans responded, however, as Hannes Daube netted the game's next four goals to cut Stanford's lead to just one with 1:57 remaining.
The Stanford defense clamped down, anchored by goalie Oliver Lewis. The net minder came up with several key saves and was aided by field blocks from Hallock and Woodhead late in the match.
Abramson put it away for the Cardinal, netting his second of the match with 31 seconds to go for the two-goal lead. Lewis sealed it from there, making his 13th save of the match and holding on to the ball with a celebratory fist pump as the final seconds expired.
4Q 0:31 | Tyler Abramson... clutch! #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/s6t8gk3a3y
— Stanford Water Polo (@StanfordMWP) October 6, 2018
Saturday's win was Stanford's second over a No. 1 team in as many years. The Cardinal defeated then-No. 1 California, 11-10, in the Big Splash on Nov. 9 of last season.
Stanford continues its 11-game homestand next week, as the Cardinal welcomes Long Beach State to Avery Aquatic Center on Thursday, before hosting the Mountain Pacific Invitational Friday through Sunday (Oct. 12-14).