Oct. 6, 2010

Saturday, Oct. 9 - Stanford, Calif.
- vs. - USC Trojans (15-0, 1-0 MPSF) - 3 p.m.

Weekly Notes
Stanford Campus Map

STANFORD, Calif. - The No. 6 Stanford men's water polo team (6-4, 0-0 MPSF) makes its home debut at Avery Aquatic Center Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m., hosting the top-ranked USC Trojans (15-0, 1-0 MPSF) in its conference opener.

Parking Advisory For Saturday's Game
With the Stanford-USC football game also scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 9, and set for a 5 p.m. kickoff, parking will be at a premium for the men's water polo match. Fans have multiple parking options for Saturday:

Free parking is available in the Wilbur Lot, located underneath Wilbur Field, along Campus Drive between Bowdoin Street and Arguello Mall.

Fans may also park in and around Stanford Stadium for the normal $15 fee.

About The Opposition
Defending national champion USC enters Saturday afternoon's contest on an 18-game winning streak, with the past 15 of those wins coming since the start of the 2010 season. The Trojans are 15-0 and 1-0 in MPSF play after winning its eighth straight SoCal Invitational title this past weekend with a 9-8 win over No. 2 UCLA.

In the pool, the Trojans are led offensively by Jeremy Davies (27 goals) and Nikola Vavic (25 goals), while in the cage reigning MPSF Player of the Week Joel Dennerley is averaging 6.4 saves per game and allowing just 4.7 goals a game.

Last Time Out
Stanford traveled to Los Angeles for the SoCal Invitational this past weekend, splitting its four contests and finishing sixth in the 16-team draw. The Cardinal opened up tournament action Saturday with a 22-12 win over No. 13 UC San Diego but dropped its second-round contest by a score of 12-10 to No. 6 UC Santa Barbara.

Action continued the following day as the Cardinal downed No. 8 Long Beach State, 9-8, to earn a spot in the fifth-place game, where Stanford fell 13-9 to No. 3 California.

For the weekend, Peter Sefton led the Cardinal with 10 goals over the four games, including three hat tricks, while Jacob Smith added nine goals and senior Jeffrey Schwimer found the back of the net eight times.

Stanford In The National Rankings
Stanford fell to the No. 6 spot in the Oct. 6 Varsity Top 20 Poll after a sixth-place finish at the SoCal Invitational in Los Angeles last weekend.

Rekindling The Rivalry
When Stanford and USC take to the pool Saturday, it will be the first meeting of the 2010 season between two of the best programs in the nation. For the Cardinal, it will be yet another chance to snap what has stretched into a 17-game losing streak against the Trojans dating back to the 2005 season. The last time that the Cardinal defeated the Trojans was on Nov. 27, 2004, when Stanford got four goals from Tony Azevedo to power it to an 8-5 victory in the MPSF Tournament semifinal round at Avery Aquatic Center.

Last year, the Trojans captured both meetings, first taking the regular-season contest by a 13-12 overtime decision, then defeating the Cardinal, 9-7, in the MPSF Tournament third-place game.

Sefton Shoots And Scores
Junior utility Peter Sefton had the hottest hand for the Cardinal last weekend at the SoCal Invitational, scoring a team-leading 10 goals over the four contests. Sefton scored three goals in each of the Cardinal's first two games, against UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara, then added four goals in the fifth-place game loss to California. On the year, Sefton ranks second on the team with 19 goals.

Schwimer Doing Work Down Low
Another hot hand over the weekend in Los Angeles belonged to senior utility Jeffrey Schwimer, who had his most productive scoring weekend of the season. The Beverly Hills native scored eight goals at the SoCal Invitational, posting hat tricks in each of the Cardinal's Saturday contests then closing out the weekend with a pair of goals against California in the fifth-place game. The eight-goal weekend boosted Schwimer's 2010 tally to 13 goals, fourth-best on the team.

Consistency, Consistency
Another weekend in the books, another weekend of goals for junior driver Jacob Smith. At the SoCal Invitational last weekend, Smith continued his high-scoring ways, netting nine goals for the Cardinal over its four games. Smith scored twice in each of Stanford's Saturday contests, then added five goals in the Cardinal's 9-8 victory over No. 8 Long Beach State in Sunday's opening contest.

Undefeated At Home
Stanford's 8-6 win over California in the Big Splash last November completed a perfect 2009 home season, as the Cardinal went a perfect 10-0 at Avery Aquatic Center. It marked Stanford's first undefeated home campaign since going 9-0 at Avery in 2005. Since the 2005 season, Stanford has put up an impressive 38-7 record (.844) at Avery Aquatic Center.

Among The MPSF Leaders
Stanford men's water polo is represented among the top-20 scorers in the MPSF rankings through Oct. 3. Jacob Smith is third in the conference with 2.40 goals per game while Peter Sefton is tied for ninth with 1.90 goals per game.

Goalie Brian Pingree is third in the conference with 6.60 saves per game. On the team level, Stanford ranks third in total offense scoring 12.50 goals per game.