STANFORD, Calif. – The No. 4 Cardinal beat No. 2 California this afternoon, leading wire-to-wire in a 12-8 win. Ben Forer led with four goals and three assists as Stanford moved to 10-4 on the season and 1-2 in the MPSF.
“Really proud of the boys, I thought we had a great week of training and it translated really well to the game today,” said Dunlevie Family Director of Men’s Water Polo Brian Flacks. “Big step for a young team, in a really pressure-filled environment. I thought our guys did a really nice job showing up, especially on the defensive end. We were phenomenal on the defensive end.”
The Cardinal led after the first period, behind goals from Ben Forer, Alex Gheorghe and Chase McFarland.
Forer kept going in the second, scoring two more along with a pair of scores from Botond Balogh. The duo extended Stanford’s lead, going into halftime up 7-5.
Both defenses locked down in the third, with the cross-bay rivals combining for only three scores in the period. Heading into the fourth, the Card held onto a 9-6 lead with hat tricks from Forer and Balogh, as well as a pair of scores from Chase McFarland.
Gheorghe opened the fourth with a goal to make it 10-6, but the Golden Bears scored two goals in just 30 seconds to cut the lead to two at 10-8.
The Card closed it out strong, with Forer’s fourth goal of the game pushing it back to a three-point lead at the 3:15 mark. Then with 1:20 left in the game, CJ Indart finished a pass from Forer to make it 12-8.
With under 20 seconds left, West Temkin made his ninth save of the day to ice the win.
“I think we did a great job after they scored two straight and settling down,” added Flacks. “Ben had the big goal in a 6-on-5, … and then CJ iced it off with the goal at the post which was really nice execution.”
The Card is at home again next, hosting No. 6 UC Davis on Sunday at 1 p.m. PT. The game will be streamed on Overnght.
No. 4 Stanford vs. No. 2 California
CAL 2 – 3 – 1 – 2 = 8
STAN 3 – 4 – 2 – 3 = 12
STAN Goals: B. Forer (4), B. Balogh (3), A. Gheorghe (2), C. McFarland (2), CJ Indart
CAL Goals: B. Akhvlediani (6), C. Wilson, B. Pardi