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Stanford Men's Water Polo Captures 2001 NCAA Championship
Dec. 2, 2001 Stanford, Ca - The top-ranked Stanford men's water polo team gave head coach Dante Dettamanti a great retirement gift, an NCAA championship. After 25 years as head coach at Stanford, Dettamanti coached his final game at the NCAA Championship on Sunday at the Avery Aquatic Center, and before a soldout crowd of 2,226 fans, the Cardinal responded with an 8-5 victory over the two-time defending NCAA champion UCLA Bruins. Cardinal freshman Tony Azevedo, Brian Darrow and Onno Koelman each scored two goals, while goalkeeper Nick Ellis added eight saves in the Stanford win. Stanford jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first period. Azevedo opened the scoring with a penalty shot at 5:33 of the first period. Eighteen seconds later Ellis fired an outlet pass to Jeff Nesmith. Nesmith broke free from his defender and powered a shot past UCLA goalkeeper Brandon Brooks. At 3:34 of the first period, a 6-on-5 man advantage produced a goal by Peter Hudnut which gave Stanford a 3-0 lead. A two-meter shot in front of the Stanford goal at 24 seconds of the first period produced UCLA's first goal by Alfonso Tucay. Stanford extended its lead to 5-1 when Azevedo fired a goal at close range past Brooks at 5:42 of the second period. Then at 2:17, Onno Koelman took a pass from Brian Darrow, raced past his defender, and scored. Tucay kept UCLA relatively close when he broke free from his defender and rifled a shot past by Ellis to cut the Stanford margin to 5-2. Darrow then countered for Stanford a minute later to give the Cardinal what seemed to be an unsurmountable 6-2 lead. But the Bruins didn't fold. Goals by Matt Flesher at 2:45 of the third period and Brett Ormsby's goal 44 seconds later cut the Stanford lead to 6-4 and the momentum was clearly in UCLA's favor. But Stanford, at 4:34 of the fourth period, slowed the Bruins momentum when Koelman took a lob pass from Azevedo, broke free from his defender and put the ball into the corner of the net for a 7-4 Stanford lead. Ormsby then scored his second goal for UCLA with 2:02 in the game to cut the Cardinal lead to 7-5, but Darrow iced the game for Stanford. Darrow's arm was hit as he fired a shot in front of the net, but the ball trickled past the UCLA goalie to give the Cardinal a three goal lead with 1:36 left. Stanford finishes the year 22-1 while the Bruins closed the season 16-5. Azevedo was named the NCAA Tournament MVP. while Ellis, Hudnut and Nesmith each gained first team all-tourney honors. Dettamanti ended his career with a mark of 666-208-6. Dettamanti now has collected eight NCAA titles, tied for the most in NCAA history with Cal's Pete Cutino. In the third place game, Loyola Marymount (15-14) beat Massachusetts (28-7), 14-6.
Stanford (22-1) 3 2 1 2 = 8 UCLA (16-5) 1 1 2 1 = 5 Stanford scorers: Azevedo 2, Darrow 2, Koelman 2, Nesmith 1, Hudnut 1 UCLA scorers: Tucay 2, Ormsby 2, Flesher 1 Goalie saves: Ellis (S) 8, Brooks (UCLA) 7
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