Sept. 18, 2010

NorCal Invitational Central

PLEASANT HILL, Calif. - No. 4 Stanford men's water polo rolled into the NorCal Invitational semifinal round following a pair of wins Saturday at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill. The Cardinal opened the day with a 13-5 victory over No. 15 UC Davis then completed the sweep with a 7-6 decision against No. 6 UC Santa Barbara.

The Cardinal will move to California's Spieker Aquatics Complex for Sunday's championship round, opening up semifinal play at 12 p.m. against UCLA.

Junior Jacob Smith scored five goals on the day to lead all Stanford players, while senior Sage Wright posted four and sophomore Travis Noll 3.

In the cage, junior Brian Pingree stopped a combined 17 shots over the two wins. Redshirt freshman Hunter Ploch saw action in the opening contest, making a save.

In that opening game against UC Davis, the Cardinal rode a four-goal second period to a 7-1 halftime advantage. Four more goals in the third frame put the Cardinal up comfortably at 11-3 as it cruised to the victory.

Along with a hat trick from Noll, Stanford got a pair of goals from Smith and Wright. Additional goals were scored by Ryan Brown, Ian Gamble, Ryan Kent, Andrew LaForge, Jeffrey Schwimer and Peter Sefton.

The afternoon's contest was a tighter affair, as the Cardinal and Gauchos slugged it out to a stalemate over the first three periods. For the second straight game, Stanford held a 3-1 lead after the opening eight minutes, but this time it was the opponent who controlled the second frame. UC Santa Barbara scored twice while holding the Cardinal scoreless to make it 3-3 at the break.

Each team would score twice in the third period, going into the final eight minutes of regulation tied at five apiece. There, the Cardinal was able to get the upper hand, limiting the Gauchos to just a goal while getting the eventual game-winner to advance to Sunday's championship round.

Smith posted a hat trick in the win with Wright adding a pair of goals. Schwimer scored for the second time on the day and Paul Rudolph added a goal. Pingree made eight saves in the contest.

UC Davis - 1 0 2 2 = 5
Stanford - 3 4 4 2 = 13

Stanford Goal Scorers: Noll 3, Smith 2, Wright 2, Brown, Gamble, Kent, LaForge, Schwimer, Sefton
UC Davis Goal Scorers: Hicks 2, Salit 2, Nicholson
Goalie Saves: Pingree 9, Ploch 1 (S); Peat 13 (UCD)

UCSB - 1 2 2 1 = 6
Stanford - 3 0 2 2 = 7

Stanford Goal Scorers: Smith 3, Wright 2, Rudolph, Schwimer
UCSB Goal Scorers: Golic, Bishop, Gronow, Shoemaker, Vincze
Goalie Saves: Pingree 8 (S); Christian 7, Bunn 2 (UCSB)