LOS ANGELES – No. 3 Stanford used a second-half surge to overpower No. 4 California and win the 2018 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship with a 12-10 victory over the Golden Bears Sunday afternoon at USC's Uytengsu Aquatics Center.
"I'm really proud of the poise and grit the guys showed all weekend," said John Vargas, Stanford's Dunlevie Family Director of Men's Water Polo. "We battled hard in these two games and came out with two really good, hard-fought wins."
The championship is the sixth conference title in program history for Stanford. The Cardinal also captured MPSF crowns in 1994, 1998, 2001, 2004 and 2014. With Sunday's victory, Stanford secured the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships Dec. 1 and 2 at Stanford's Avery Aquatic Center.
Sophomore Tyler Abramson scored all four of his goals in the second half, as the Cardinal erased a three-goal third-quarter deficit to pull ahead at the conclusion of the period. Junior Bennett Williams also collected four scores in the contest, scoring the first four goals for the Cardinal.
After a closely-played first half, Cal pulled ahead by three scores 2:18 into the second half.
Stanford went on the attack from there, looking to erase the 8-5 deficit. Dylan Woodhead rattled the cage for the Cardinal first. Abramson punched home his first score of the match 28 seconds later to cut it to one.
After a Cal score, Stanford responded with a Jackson Seybold goal to cut it back to one at 9-8.
Abramson continued his hot streak with a pair of goals in the final 1:13 of the period, sneaking his second one inside the near post and under the cross bar to give Stanford its first lead of the match with 33 seconds left in the third.
After a third-quarter hat trick, Abramson was not finished. He opened the fourth with his fourth goal of the match to give Stanford an 11-9 lead with 5:48 to go.
Cal's Johnny Hooper cut it back to one moments later, but Stanford once again responded as Seybold scored on a five-meter penalty shot to push the lead back to two with 3:59 left.
The Cardinal would not be denied as the defense held off the Golden Bears the rest of the way, highlighted by two big stops from Oliver Lewis to close it out. Lewis finished with nine saves in the contest.
Stanford now prepares to host the NCAA Championships at Avery Aquatic Center the first week of December. More information on seeding and schedules will be announced at a later date.