Men’s Water Polo: Stanford Thumps Loyola-Marymount, Cal Edges UOP

WESTCHESTER, CA., Sept. 29. IT doesn't pay to awaken the sleeping giant.

Stanford's men's water polo team, top-ranked nationally and defending NCAA champs — but smarting from a 10-7 loss to No. 7 Pepperdine Saturday
afternoon in Malibu — took its wrath out on No. 10-ranked Loyola-Marymount this afternoon here and coasted to an easy 13-5 victory.

The No. 1 Cardinal is now 8-1 overall and 1-1 in Mountqain Pacific Sports Federation play. First-year coach John Vargas' squad breezed to a seven-goal halftime advantage over the outmanned LMU Lions and despite giving up four second-half goals were never threatened.

The match was at the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center Pool, site of this year's NCAA Final Four the first weekend of December.

Cardinal sophomore Tony Azevedo led the game in scoring with a four point performance while six other Cardinal players tallied at least one goal in the game.

Stanford jumped out to a quick lead, taking an 8-1 margin into halftime. However, the Lions rallied in the second half, notching four more goals.

The Cardinal offense remained undaunted and tallied four points in the fourth quarter to cement the victory. Junior Mike Derse posted three goals on the day while senior Peter Hudnut put up two scores. Seniors Jeff Guyman and Jeff Nesmith and sophomores Matt Moser and Greg Crum each added one goal to give the Cardinal the eight-point victory. In the net, senior keeper Nick Ellis collected six saves for the Cardinal.

— Bill Bell

GAME SUMMARY

SCORE BY QUARTERS

SCORE BY QUATERS 1 2 3 4 – Total

Stanford 5 3 1 4 – 13
Loyola Marymount 1 0 3 1 5

Stanford Scoring: Tony Azevedo 4, Mike Derse 3, Peter Hudnut 2, Greg Crum 1, Jeff Guyman 1, Matt Moser 1, Jeff Nesmith 1.

LMU Scoring: Ryan Chapatte 2, Andrew Jenson 1, Kevin Win 1.

Goalie Saves: Nick Ellis (Stan) 6; Kevin Paulsen (LMU) 6, Justin Coleman
(LMU) 4.

BERKELEY, CA., Sept. 28. CAL junior driver Attila Banhidy blasted home a game-high five goals to lead the Golden Bears to an upset 8-6 victory over the University of the Pacific this morning at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

A 6-1, 186-pound two-year letterman from Eger, Hungary, Banhidy's "heroics" were responsible in large part for Cal improving its record to 4-2 on the
season, while the UOP Tigers drop to 5-3.

The Bears pounced on the Tigers early, netting two quick goals in the first three minutes of action to take a 2-0 lead. The Tigers came roaring back, scoring three unanswered goals to end the first period of action with the 3-2 lead. Senior Rob Arroyo and Banhidy each tallied a goal in the first period for the Bears, while Pacific's Nic Hepner tallied his team high two goals.

In the second period Cal came out aggressively, scoring on Banhidy's penalty shot at the 4:43 mark. But more importantly, Cal blanked the Tigers in the
seven minutes of action. The period was not without excitement, however, as each team traded several shots that bounced of the pipes. The teams went into the break tied at three goals apiece.

The third period belonged to the Golden Bears as tempers started to rise in this third-consecutive matchup between the two schools. Pacific's Kraig
Jorgensen gave the Tigers a brief 4-3 lead at the 3:32 mark, but Banhidy tied it up with his first of three third period goals from the left corner.

A yellow card on Pacific head coach Courtney Porter at the 1:02 mark seemed to stir things up as UOP senior Chris Nowak and Cal goalie Russell Bernstein got into an altercation in front of Cal's net a few seconds later. The scrap resulted in the ejection of Nowak, resulting in Banhidy's final goal of the match on the ensuing penalty shot.

Up 6-4 going into the final period, the Bears put the game out of reach as Will Quist and Chris Lathrop each tallied a goal within the first two minutes of the final period. Pacific made a game of it by scoring two late goals, but Bernstein proved too much to handle between the pipes, recording three of his 10 saves down the stretch.

With the win, the Bears take the season series over Pacific, 2-1, with a chance to meet again in next weekend's NorCal Tourney to be held Oct. 5-6 at
Spieker Aquatics Complex in Berkeley. Yet another rematch is possible Thanksgiving weekend at the MPSF Tournament.

— Bill Bell

GAME SUMMARY:

GOALS
CAL – Banhidy 5, Arroyo 1, Lathrop 1, Quist 1
UOP – Hepner 2, Pendergass 2, Norvall 1, Jorgensen 1

SAVES
CAL – Bernstein 10
UOP – Trettel 6

BOX SCORE – SCORING BY QUARTERS

1 2 3 4 TOTAL

UOP 3 0 1 2 6
CAL 2 1 3 2 8

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