Oct. 25, 2012

STANFORD, Calif. - No. 4 Stanford returns to Avery Aquatic Center this weekend for its penultimate homestand, hosting No. 8 UC Irvine Saturday and No. 9 Long Beach State Sunday. Both contests are set for 12 p.m. starts.

Saturday is also Autograph Day. Following the contest against UC Irvine, the Cardinal players will be signing posters for fans at Avery Aquatic Center.

The Cardinal (10-4, 2-2 MPSF) is coming off of last weekend's 2-1 showing. Stanford fell 14-8 at California in Saturday's Big Splash but rebounded the next day, defeating No. 17 Bucknell 14-2, and No. 13 Air Force 14-3 at Santa Clara's Rodeo Tournament.

Freshman Bret Bonanni scored 14 goals Sunday, including nine in the afternoon victory over Air Force. The outburst of offense lifted the Huntington Beach native to second in the MPSF with 3.00 goals per game.

Sophomore Alex Bowen scored six times over the weekend, including four goals at California. Currently second on the team with 34 goals, Bowen ranks seventh in the MPSF with 2.43 goals per game.

Redshirt sophomores Conner Cleary and Nick Hoversten also had productive weekends, scoring six and three goals, respectively.

This weekend Stanford aims to get back on track in the MPSF chase. The Cardinal, currently in fourth position in the conference standings, has a key opportunity to create some space and even move up a slot or two with a weekend sweep of the Anteaters and 49ers.

UC Irvine (14-5, 0-2 MPSF) will play its second MPSF contest of the weekend Saturday when it visits Avery. The Anteaters, paced by the scoring of Bojan Hrlec (52 goals) and Mitch Wise (47), take on No. 1 USC Thursday before heading north. In team defense, UC Irvine is ninth out of the nine MPSF teams, allowing 8.74 goals per game.

Long Beach State (18-4, 0-1 MPSF) will also be playing the tail end of its MPSF weekend doubleheader Sunday, following its matchup with California Saturday. The 49ers feature leading scorers Dan Matulis (53 goals) and Spencer White (47) in addition to goalie Balint Meszaros, who is fourth in the MPSF with 10.54 saves per game.