No. 2 Stanford (17-1, 1-0) at No. 4 UCLA (19-2, 0-1) | Saturday • 3:30 p.m.
Spieker Aquatics Center • Los Angeles, Calif.
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STANFORD, Calif. – With its 11-match homestand in the rearview mirror, No. 2 Stanford men's water polo travels to Los Angeles this weekend to face No. 4 UCLA at Spieker Aquatics Center.
BEST START IN A DECADE: Stanford's 17-1 record matches its best start in 10 seasons. The Cardinal opened the 2009 campaign 19-1.
ROAD TRIP: After hosting 11 consecutive matches at Avery Aquatic Center, Stanford travels to UCLA for its first road contest in 41 days. The Cardinal last played on the road on Sept. 23, defeating No. 10 Pepperdine in Malibu.
FOUR STRAIGHT: Stanford has won four consecutive matches after posting victories over No. 9 UC Davis (13-10) and No. 11 UC Irvine (16-10) at home last week.
RANKINGS: Stanford is ranked No. 2 in the latest Collegiate Water Polo Association Poll released on Wednesday. The Cardinal has been in the top five of the national poll every week over the past three seasons and has been ranked among the top three each of the past seven weeks. UCLA is No. 4 in the latest CWPA poll, falling one spot after its loss to California last week.
HALLOCK HONORED AGAIN: Sophomore Ben Hallock was voted the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Week on Monday, marking his fifth career weekly honor over his first two seasons on The Farm. The two-meter standout was recognized following his nine-goal performance in two Cardinal wins. He scored a career-best eight goals in Sunday's victory over No. 11 UC Irvine. It's the most goals in a game by a Cardinal since Bret Bonanni recorded nine scores against MIT on Sept. 25, 2015. Hallock registered a hat trick in the first 4:09 of the contest and had five goals by halftime. In Saturday's win over No. 9 UC Davis, Hallock recorded a first quarter score.
HALLOCK'S IMPRESSIVE SCORING STREAK: Sophomore Ben Hallock scored at least one goal in each of his first 25 career matches, including all 20 he played in as a freshman and the first five he played this season (missed Santa Clara match while playing with USA Water Polo). He totaled 70 goals altogether in his first 25 matches on The Farm. Despite having his scoring streak snapped in the Sept. 23 win at Pepperdine, Hallock still contributed to the Cardinal offense with an assist in the victory. In the 11 matches since that Sept. 23 contest, the First Team All-American has recorded 37 goals and enters this week's games with 107 career goals in 37 career matches.
MPSF LEADER BOARD: Stanford owns three of the top four spots in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation scoring leaderboard. Ben Hallock ranks second in the MPSF with an average of 3.00 goals-per-game. Bennett Williams is third with an average of 2.56 goals-per-game. Tyler Abramson is fourth at 2.44 goals-per-game.
SECOND-QUARTER SCORING: Stanford has earned 15 victories by multiple goals and the second quarter is where the Cardinal has begun to pull away from its opponent. In 18 games this season, Stanford has out-scored its opponent 74-31 in the second period.
YOUTH MOVEMENT: Ten of the 14 members of the Cardinal that have scored at least one goal this year are in either their freshman or sophomore year of eligibility. Sophomore Ben Hallock lead the team in scoring with 51 goals, while fellow sophomore Tyler Abramson is second with 46 goals. In all, six newcomers have scored goals this season, including Jackson Seybold (24), AJ Rossman (13), Josh Orrick (10), Parker Killion (7), Quinn Woodhead (7), Zack LaGrange (4) and Spencer Nelson (1).
Seybold scored the game-winning goal with one second remaining in the 8-7 victory over No. 2 UCLA in the Mountain Pacific Invitational semifinals on Oct. 13.
True freshman goalie George Hagestad has played six quarters in the cage with 12 saves on the year.
LEWIS AMONG MPSF LEADERS: Fifth-year senior Oliver Lewis is second the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in saves, with 11.85 stops per game. He ranks third in goals-against average at 6.88. Lewis was voted the MPSF Player of the Week Sept. 24 following career-best save totals in Stanford's wins at No. 5 UC Santa Barbara and No. 10 Pepperdine. He posted a then-career-best 15 saves and limited the Gauchos to their second-lowest point total this year. In the 13-7 victory at No. 10 Pepperdine, Lewis topped his previous career-high save total for the second day in a row, recording 17 saves. Lewis has posted double-digit save totals in 14 of 18 matches this season.
1,000 WINS: Stanford recorded its milestone 1,000th career win in program history Sept. 8 with a 23-6 victory against Johns Hopkins at the Princeton Invitational. Stanford's all-time record is 1,011-309-8.
ACTIVE SCORING LEADER: Senior All-American Blake Parrish is Stanford's active career scoring leader. After registering 34 goals in 18 matches this season, he enters this weekend with 144 career scores.
SCOUTING UCLA: No. 4 UCLA is 19-2, coming off a 9-7 loss to California last weekend. The Bruins' only other defeat was to Stanford (8-7) in the semifinals of the Mountain Pacific Invitational at Avery Aquatic Center on Oct. 13. UCLA's goalie, Alex Wolf, leads the MPSF in goals-against average at 6.47. Sophomores Nicolas Saveljic (34 goals) and Quinten Osborne (33 goals) lead the Bruins, offensively.
LAST TIME VS. THE BRUINS: 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 Oct. 13 at Avery Aquatic Center.
Facing its first deficit (7-6) 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 for the win.
VARGAS IN 17TH SEASON ON THE FARM: Dunlevie Family Director of Men's Water Polo, John Vargas, is in his 17th season on The Farm. He has directed the Cardinal to a 338-103 record that includes the 2002 NCAA title in his stellar career as the leader of the Stanford program.