2008 Stanford Men's Water Polo
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
2008 STANFORD MEN’S WATER POLO The Stanford Water Polo team returns many of the top scorers from a team that finished fourth in the national rankings last year. 2008 Stanford Team Information Media Relations 2007 Record: 17-8 (Home: 8-1, Away: 4-3, Neutral: 5-4) Assistant Media Relations Director/MWP Contact: Men’s Water Polo 2007 MPSF Record (Finish): 5-3 (3rd) Aaron Juarez Quick Facts 2007 MPSF Tournament: Third Place Game (California Office Phone: (650) 725-7277 12, Stanford 9 on Nov. 25, 2007 at Berkeley, Calif.) Email: [email protected] General Information Letterwinners Returning/Lost: 16/6 Media Relations Office: (650) 723-4418 Location: Stanford, CA 94305 Newcomers: 8 Media Relations Fax: (650) 725-2957 Enrollment: 13,198 Home Pool: Avery Aquatics Center Athletics Website: www.gostanford.com (6,584 Undergraduates; 6,614 Graduates) NCAA Tournament Appearances: 25 Founded: 1891 NCAA Championships: 10 (1976, ’78, ’80, ’81, ’85, ’86, Media Information Nickname: Cardinal ’93, ’94, 2001, ’02) Interview requests for players and coaches must be Colors: Cardinal and White coordinated with Aaron Juarez in the Stanford Athletic Media Conference: Mountain Pacific Sports Federation CREDITS: The 2008 Stanford Men’s Water Polo Guide is a Relations office. Interview requests should be submitted at production of the Stanford Athletics Media Relations Department. President: John Hennessy Writing: Aaron Juarez. Photography: David Gonzales, Kyle Terada, least 24 hours in advance. Visit www.gostanford.com for Athletics Director: Bob Bowlsby USA Water Polo. Design: Don Hogue. Printing: Dumont Printing. news releases, player profiles, and updated statistics. Senior Women’s Administrator: Beth Goode Sport Administrator: Earl Koberlein Faculty Representative: Ellen Markman Coaching Staff Head Coach: John Vargas (UC Irvine, 1983) Career Record: 123-39 (7th Year) Record At Stanford: Same Assistant Coach: Jonathan Barnea (UC Santa Barbara, 2002) – 3rd Year Athletic Trainer: Nicole Heffington Strength & Conditioning Coach: Dan Ammon Men’s Water Polo Office Phone: (650) 723-1874 Sage Wright returns as Stanford’s co-leading scorer from 2007. WWW.GOSTANFORD.COM 2008 STANFORD WATER POLO 1 2008 OUTLOOK While Wright, along with the Wigo brothers, Drac and Janson, who each scored 32 goals last season en route to All-America honorable mention recognition, handle the perimeter, second-team All-American Will Hindle-Katel will provide the Cardinal’s toughness and grit at the two-meter position. Hindle-Katel, who equaled Wright with 33 goals last season, has scored at least 30 Coming goals in each of his three years on The Farm. He will use his 6-6 frame to be a force and a terror to opposing defenses. As one of four seniors on the squad, Hindle-Katel will Back also provide leadership to the Cardinal through his veteran presence inside and outside of the pool. With A Another pair of returners, junior Ryan McCarthy (15 goals in 2007) and Schwimer (nine goals), will share time with Hindle-Katel at the two-meter position. Each player Vengeance enjoyed a fine season in 2007, scoring key goals and improving at arguably the most brutal position in the game. “Will brings a lot of leadership and experience to the two-meter position and to our program,” Vargas said. “We also have two other players who will be rotating in, Ryan McCarthy and Jeffrey Schwimer. Along with in the goal, I feel that two-meters is one of the strong points of our team.” Adding depth for the Stanford offense will be seniors Andrew Drake (28 goals in 2007), Steven Wright (five goals), and Chris Jacobson (seven goals), along with redshirt sophomores Cody Wiesen (eight goals) and Will Smith (seven goals). Vargas also points to goalkeeping, which is in the capable hands of Jimmie Sandman, returning after redshirting the 2007 season, as a strong point of this team. Over his first two seasons, Sandman shared time in the cage, making 103 saves as a sophomore in 2006, including a pair of 12-save performances against Navy and UC Davis. “Jimmie will be the key to our success, I believe he is one of the best, if not the best, goalies in the country,” Vargas said. “You win championships with defense, and he’ll be the catalyst for our great defense. Jimmie is a very athletic goalie and he is the reason we will have a shot at being one of the top teams in the country.” Pingree appeared in eight games last year and made 26 saves. The experience gained Will Hindle-Katel scored 33 goals as the in outings such as a 10-save performance against Pacific, and a seven-save outing against team’s co-leading scorer in 2007. UC Santa Cruz, adds further depth to Stanford’s goalkeeper position. Also looking to make an impact on Stanford’s fortunes is a seven-man freshman class, featuring driver Jacob Smith, a member of the U.S. National Team’s “B” Training o anyone else, a 17-8 overall record, a 5-3 mark and third-place finish in the ever- roster, and utility Peter Sefton. Sefton, a member of the U.S. Youth National Team that Tcompetitive Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, and a final national ranking of competed in Croatia in 2007, was named the 2008 San Diego Union Tribune Student- No. 4 would be acceptable. But for the Stanford men’s water polo team last season, it Athlete of the Year and helped lead the La Jolla High water polo team to the state was not enough to get it into the four-team NCAA Championship field, a place the 2008 tournament, while Smith, from Coronado High School, scored 83 goals in 2007 en Stanford squad expects to be when it hosts the national championship tournament at route to earning San Diego Union-Tribune Player of the Year honors and leading CHS to Avery Aquatic Center once again this fall. its first CIF San Diego Section Division II title in five years. “I think missing last year’s NCAA Championships, which we hosted, is a big “I’m anticipating that Jacob will come in and contribute right away, one of the very motivation,” said head coach John Vargas, who enters his seventh season at the helm of few freshmen that has the ability to do that this year,” Vargas said. “This is one of our the Stanford program, through which he owns a record of 123-39 (.759). “Our offseason stronger freshman classes, they’re going to elevate our program right away.” went really well because of that. To host the NCAA Championships and not be a part of The rest of the Stanford freshman class consists of drivers Alex Avery (Atherton, it, I know a lot of guys don’t want that to happen again.” Calif.), Porter Kalbus (Danville, Calif.), Tim Norton (Menlo Park, Calif.) and Travis Among the returners for Stanford who will look to get back to the NCAA Noll (Tustin, Calif.), and two-meters Ryan Brown (San Jose, Calif.) and Andrew LaForge Championship are four 2007 ACWPC All-Americans, as well as the team’s top five (Anaheim, Calif.). scorers. The Cardinal also returns experienced goalkeepers in redshirt junior Jimmie The Cardinal faces foes both new and familiar in 2008. On top of the annual slate Sandman and sophomore Brian Pingree, as well as a pair of sophomores, Alex Pulido of MPSF opponents, Stanford will travel to Princeton to begin the season against five and Jeffrey Schwimer, who posted solid debuts in 2007. East Coast opponents at the Princeton Tournament, opening with Johns Hopkins Sept. Offensively, Stanford returns 12 players who accounted for 221 of the team’s 263 12 at 3:15 p.m. PT. goals in 2007, a staggering 84 percent of the team’s scoring. Considering the amount of Stanford will open its five-game home regular-season schedule Friday night, Sept. 19 firepower coming back for 2008, the Stanford offense should prove to be more than a at 6 p.m. against Air Force. handful to contain. The slate also includes visits to the prestigious NorCal and SoCal Tournaments, “This year will be a real fun year as far as how we’re going to play offensively,” Vargas which will afford Stanford the opportunity to capture key victories that strengthen the noted about the Cardinal attack. “It’s going to be a fast-paced game, a very dynamic Cardinal’s case for a postseason bid. offense. With those returning players and the experience and chemistry that they have, Picked to finish second in the MPSF in the preseason poll, Stanford will have the we’ll have a great product and it will be a lot of fun to watch us play.” chance to secure the league’s automatic postseason bid at the MPSF Tournament in Los Included among the returners is first-team All-American Sage Wright, a junior driver Angeles from Nov. 28-30. who enjoyed a breakout 2007 season, co-leading the Cardinal with 33 goals and twice “I think we match up really well with the rest of the teams in the MPSF,” Vargas claiming MPSF Player of the Week honors. noted. “Our schedule is tough, with a lot of away games this year, but with this group “Sage has quietly become one of the best players in the country. It’s interesting how of guys, we have great experience, so we’ll be prepared. But I feel optimistic about our smoothly things go when Sage is in the game. He really guides our offense to a point season and our chances. We’ve got the guys to do well now.” where we are able to settle back in our defense.