Sept. 16, 2005

Irvine, Calif. - The Stanford water polo team, ranked fourth in the nation, begins play on Saturday, September 17, against 16th-ranked UC Santa Barbara at 10:20am in the Southern California Tournament at UC Irvine. The Stanford-UCSB winner will go on to play at 4:10pm Saturday afternoon against the winner of the Pepperdine vs. Navy match.

The Southern California tournament is a preview of the upcoming NCAA championship play, hosting some of the best water polo programs in the nation. Competing in the tournament are Moutain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) teams including nationally-ranked #1 and defending national champion UCLA, second-ranked Cal, #3 USC, #4 Stanford, fifth-ranked Pepperdine, #6 Long Beach State, eighth-ranked UC Irvine, #12 University of Pacific, and #16 UC Santa Barbara. Also included in the tournament line-up are seventh-ranked UC San Diego, ninth-ranked Loyola Marymount, #11 Navy, #13 UC Davis, Bucknell, Cal Baptist, and Redlands.

Stanford (3-0) plays UC Santa Barbara (5-3) for the first time in this 2005 season. First-year UCSB head coach Wolf Wigo was a four-time All-American at Stanford in the mid-90's, as well as a three-time Olympian (1996, 2000, 2004). Wigo helped Stanford to two straight NCAA championships in his junior and senior seasons on The Farm.

Stanford returns home on Thursday, September 29, to host the 12th-ranked University of Pacific (4-2) at 7:00pm.