Men's Water Polo Falls At Stanford, 11-9

Saturday, November 9

Palo Alto, Calif.

1:00 PM

USC

Stanford*

Men's Water Polo Falls At Stanford, 11-9

November 09, 2002 | Men's Water Polo

Nov. 9, 2002

Stanford, Calif. - Second-ranked Stanford (19-3, 6-2 MPSF) earned an important win today as the Cardinal defeated the fourth-ranked USC Trojans (17-6, 4-3 MPSF) 11-9 at the Avery Aquatic Center.

Stanford started the day with a 5-3 first quarter lead spearheaded by a three-goal effort by sophomore Tony Azevedo, but the Trojans pulled even in the third quarter, tying the game at 9-9 with 1:04 to go.

Stanford came out strong in the final seven minutes, with Azevedo winning the first sprint of the day for the Cardinal. Both teams had excellent looks at the net, but with just under five minutes left in the game USC's Gadi Hadar fired off a shot that hit the post and was recovered by the Cardinal. Stanford controlled the ball for the next 35 seconds and as time expired on the shot clock, Derse took a pass from sophomore Matt Moser at the top of the perimeter and seared it past the keeper for the go-ahead goal.

Both teams were perfect on man-up situations on the day (Stanford and USC were both 4-for-4) when USC drew an ejection with 2:48 to go in the fourth period, but the Cardinal defense rose to the occasion as senior Peter Hudnut blocked Stephen Lipinski's shot. USC regained possession and with just under one minute to play senior Cardinal keeper Nick Ellis recorded his seventh save of the game, stopping Jordan Hewko's attempt.

With 15 seconds to go in the game and Stanford still leading by one, USC's Frank Schulz illegally jumped in the pool, giving Stanford a four-meter penalty shot. Azevedo took the penalty shot and scored the final goal of the game to give the Cardinal the 11-9 win.

Game SummaryTeam        1    2    3    4    TotalStanford    5    3    1    2    11USC         3    3    3    0    9Stanford Scoring: Mike Derse 5, Tony Azevedo 4, Peter Hudnut 2.USC Scoring: Jeff Larson 3, Jaraj Zatovic 2, Predrag Damjanov1, Brett Reynolds 1, James Shin 1.Goalie Saves: Nick Ellis (Stan) 7; Bozidar Damjanovic (USC) 8.6-on-5: Stanford 4-4; California 4-5.Penalty Shots: Jeff Larson (USC), 2nd period, 3:15; Tony Azevedo(Stan), 4th period, 0:15.