Nov. 12, 2004

Stanford, Ca. - The final regular season home game for the second-ranked Stanford men's water polo team takes place on Saturday (11/13/04, 11:30 p.m.) at the Avery Aquatic Center when the Cardinal faces fourth-ranked California in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation game.

The game will be televised on a tape-delayed basis on Sunday (11/14/04, 5:30 p.m. pt) on CSTV (College Sports Television)

The game marks the final regular season home appearance for Cardinal seniors Tony Azevedo, Greg Crum, Matt Moser, Sam Tyre and Trent Wiesen. Azevedo is arguably the best player in Stanford water polo history, and currently one of the great players in the world. Azevedo is Stanford's scoring leader with 56 goals, and a school record 308 career goals. Azevedo is the three time of the Peter Cutino Award, symbolic of the nation's top water polo player. Azevedo also is the three-time MVP of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Year.

Crum is enjoying his finest season at Stanford with 36 goals, fourth-best on the Cardinal. In four seasons at Stanford, Crum has scored 92 goals. Moser is a two-year starter who has helped the Cardinal chalk up a 86-14 record and two NCAA championships during his four-year tenure on The Farm. Tyre has scored 12 goals, sixth-best on the team. Tyre was a member of the 2001 and 2002 NCAA championship teams. Wiesen has been one of the team's top defenders and has chipped in with four goals this year.

For the second time in three weeks, Azevedo is the MPSF Player of the Week. Last week in wins over Pacific and Long Beach State, Azevedo scored seven goals. Azevedo leads the league in scoring at 2.80 goals per game. Thomas Hopkins, who is Stanford's second leading scorer, has scored 49 goals this year, and is fourth in the conference at 2.33 per game. Peter Varellas is Stanford's third top scorer with 43 goals, and is seventh in the MPSF at 2.05 goals per game. Junior All-American Chad Taylor has allowed only 4.24 goals per game, #1 in the MPSF.

As a team, Stanford has scored 12.29 goals per game, #1 in the MPSF.

This will be the second meeting between Stanford and California. On Oct. 3, then top-ranked Stanford reached the championship game of the NorCal Tournament with a 12-7 victory over the fourth-ranked Golden Bears. Tony Azevedo scored four goals while Greg Crum added a trio of scores and Matt Moser added a pair. The Cardinal jumped to a 3-2 first period lead, and extended it throughout the game, leading 8-4 at halftime, and 10-5 after three periods.

The Stanford-California game brings together two schools that have won a total of 21 NCAA championships. California has won eleven, while Stanford has won ten national titles.

Stanford is 18-3 overall and 6-1 in the MPSF. The Cardinal has won three straight games. California is 17-7 overall and 2-4 in the conference. The Golden Bears have won six straight games. Seven Cal players have scored in double figures this year, including John Mann (54), Brian Bacharach (41), Andrija Vasiljevic (33), Brian Kinsel (28), Michael Sharf (17), Marty Matthies (13) and Mike Hayes (12). Nate Bennett has 165 saves in goal for Cal.

Cardinal Catalogue: The MPSF Championships will be held at Stanford University on Nov. 26-28. The league's top eight teams will compete in the three day tournament to determine the league's automatic qualifier for the NCAA Tournament Dec. 4-5 at Stanford ... The Nationals will be held for a second straight year at Stanford's Avery Aquatic Center ... On Dec. 4, the semifinal games will be held at 3:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m ... On Dec. 5, the third place game will be held at 12:30 p.m. while the championship game is slated for 2:00 p.m. For ticket information, call 800-STANFORD. ™