MPSF_PreviewMPSF_Preview
Bryan Williams
Men's Water Polo

MPSF Championships

No. 1 seed Stanford (18-2) vs No. 4 seed UCLA (20-3) | Saturday • 11:00 a.m.
Uytengsu Aquatics Center • Los Angeles, Calif.
Live Stream: USCTrojans.com | Live Stats: USCTrojans.com
MPSF Championships Central
Twitter | Instagram

STANFORD, Calif. – The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men's water polo regular-season champion Stanford Cardinal begins play in the MPSF Championships on Saturday against UCLA at 11 a.m. at USC's Uytengsu Aquatics Center.
 
HOW TO FOLLOW: MPSF TV will provide a live stream of the games. To access the live stream log on to https://mpsports.org/watch. Live will also available for all the games on USC's MPSF Championship Central page.   
 
BEST REGULAR SEASON IN A DECADE: Stanford finished the regular season 18-2 overall for its best mark in 10 seasons. The Cardinal completed the 2009 season 20-2.
 
MPSF CHAMPIONSHIPS: Stanford secured the No. 1 seed in this weekend's MPSF Championship for the second consecutive year, with a 2-1 record in the regular season. The Cardinal defeated USC at home and California on the road, with its lone setback in MPSF play coming at UCLA. With the No. 1 seed, Stanford earns a bye into the semifinals on Saturday. The Cardinal faces No. 4 seed UCLA, which defeated Penn State Behrend in Friday's opening round. The winner of Saturday's semifinal will play in the championship game on Sunday at 1 p.m. on Pac-12 Networks. The loser of the Saturday match will play in Sunday's third-place game on Sunday at 11 a.m.
 
Stanford has won the MPSF Championship five times since 1992, most recently capturing the title in 2014 as the No. 2 seed with a 9-8 win over Long Beach State. The Cardinal also won the MPSF crown in 1994, 1998, 2001 and 2004. Stanford has turned in three runner-up finishes at the event (2005, 2010, 2013), one third-place effort (2008) and finished fourth seven times. Last season, Stanford placed fourth in the tournament, held at Avery Aquatic Center.
 
LAST TIME OUT: In a wild back-and-forth affair between two of the nation's top men's water polo programs, No. 3 Stanford captured a 12-11 overtime victory over No. 4 California last Saturday in Berkeley. Neither team led by more than one goal during regulation. A Bennett Williams score with 1:51 remaining in the second overtime period gave the Cardinal the elusive two-goal advantage and proved to be the difference. Cal's Safek Simsek scored on other end to cut it to one and the Golden Bears took over possession with six seconds remaining for one final shot at an equalizer. With time expiring, Cal leading scorer Johnny Hooper lobbed one final attempt towards the cage. The ball ricocheted off the top bar and out, igniting a huge celebration for the Cardinal.
 
RANKINGS: Stanford is ranked No. 3 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 nine weeks. UCLA is No. 2 in the latest poll.  
 
MPSF PLAYER AND COACH OF THE YEAR: Sophomore Ben Hallock was named the MPSF Player of the Year and Dunlevie Family Director of Men's Water Polo, John Vargas was voted the MPSF Coach of the Year to highlight Stanford's six conference postseason honorees altogether. Hallock, Blake Parrish and Bennett Williams were First Team All-MPSF selections, Lewis was a second-team honoree and Abramson was an honorable mention pick.

Hallock was the first conference player of the year from Stanford since Jimmie Sandman in 2008. It was the 10th time a Cardinal has been honored as the conference player of the year. Along with Hallock and Sandman, Tony Azevedo (2001-04) was honored four times, Brian Heifferon captured the conference's top honor in 1999, Layne Beaubien in 1998; Brian Wallin in 1996 and Wolf Wigo in 1994.
 
Vargas collected his second career MPSF Coach of the Year honor. He was also tabbed the conference coach of the year in 2004.

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 13 matches since that Sept. 23 contest, the First Team All-American has recorded 41 goals and enters the MPSF Championships with 111 career goals in 39 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 2.89 goals-per-game. Bennett Williams is third with an average of 2.55 goals-per-game. Tyler Abramson is fourth at 2.45 goals-per-game.
 
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 leads the team in scoring with 55 goals, while fellow sophomore Tyler Abramson is second with 49 goals. In all, six newcomers have scored goals this season, including Jackson Seybold (25), 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 at Stanford 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 11.49 stops per game. 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 1,012-310-8.  
 
ACTIVE SCORING LEADER: Senior All-American Blake Parrish is Stanford's active career scoring leader. After registering 37 goals in 20 matches this season, he enters this weekend with 147 career scores. 
 
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 339-104 record that includes the 2002 NCAA title in his stellar career as the leader of the Stanford program.