Stanford Athletic Communications John Cantalupi • Assistant Director stanford Cell: 650.924.8304 WATER POLO [email protected] 2014 NCAA Men’s Water Polo Championship • December 6-7 • La Jolla, Calif. RESULTS WHAT’S AHEAD?: No. 1 Stanford (25-3) begins its 2014 NCAA Men’s Water Polo Championship in the semifinals overall ......................................................................................25-3 against No. 3 USC (23-6) on Saturday, Dec. 6 at 3:12 p.m. The Cardinal is seeded second and the Trojans third in MPSF ........................................................................................7-1 the event, which is being hosted on the campus of UC San Diego. No. 1 seed UCLA (27-3) and No. 4 seed UCSD home ........................................................................................4-0 (16-9) will meet in the other semifinal at 1 p.m. The title game takes place on Sunday, Dec. 7 at 3:12 p.m. The away ........................................................................................8-1 third-place match will precede it at 1 p.m. neutral ......................................................................................13-2 NCAA HISTORY: Stanford is one of the most decorated men’s water polo programs when it comes to national SCHEDULE titles. The Cardinal’s 10 NCAA championships (1976, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1986, 1993, 1994, 2001, 2002) are September second only to Cal’s 13, with the last trophy making its way to The Farm in 2002. Stanford has also finished as UCLA Invitational (Los Angeles, Calif.) the national runner-up on 10 occasions (1982, 1984, 1990, 1992, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008) and has 13 #22 Concordia ............................................. W, 20-8 appeared in the NCAA postseason 31 times. The Cardinal will be making back-to-back postseason appearances for the first time since it went five straight years from 2001 to 2005. Stanford is 4-2 this year against the NCAA Inland Empire Classic (Redlands, Calif.) championship field (2-0 vs. USC, 1-2 vs. UCLA, 1-0 vs. UC San Diego). 14 #23 Pomona-Pitzer ..................................... W, 21-5 Redlands ..................................................... W, 22-4 MPSF CHAMPS: Stanford earned an automatic berth into the NCAA championship by virtue of claiming the NorCal Invitational (Stockton, Calif.) MPSF title on Sunday, Nov. 23. The Cardinal won the program’s fifth league championship, and first since 2004, 20 Redlands ..................................................... W, 26-3 with a 9-8 victory over tournament host Long Beach State. It also defeated Pepperdine (13-4) and USC (7-4) #8 UCSD ....................................................... W, 13-6 en route to the crown, which was added to the mantle alongside its trophies from 1994, 1998, 2001 and 2004. 21 #4 California ................................................ W, 11-8 Stanford is the first of the conference’s northern brethren to win the title since California in 2006. #2 UCLA .......................................................... L, 9-7 MPSF ALL-TOURNAMENT: Alex Bowen was named the MPSF/Kap7 Tournament MVP for the critical role he Aggie Shooout (Davis, Calif.) played in Stanford’s championship. He scored once in the quarterfinals against Pepperdine, a single-game 27 Chapman .................................................... W, 26-3 tournament high four times in the semifinal against No. 3 USC, and three more goals in the championship over Occidental ................................................... W, 25-1 No. 4 Long Beach State. He was joined on the All-Tournament Team by teammates Bret Bonanni, BJ Churnside 28 #18 Navy ...................................................... W, 24-4 and Drew Holland. #19 Whittier ................................................. W, 21-5 October CLASS OF THE CONFERENCE: Six Stanford men’s water polo players were named All-MPSF when the confer- 4 #9 UC Irvine * (P12N) ............................. W, 12-6 ence announced its postseason awards last Tuesday morning. The Cardinal’s six honorees are its most since 5 at #11 UC Davis ........................................... W, 17-5 2007. Alex Bowen and Bret Bonanni earned All-MPSF First Team status, BJ Churnside and Drew Holland were selected to the All-MPSF Second Team and Conner Cleary and Nick Hoversten landed on the All-MPSF Honor- SoCal Tournament (Los Angeles, Calif.) able Mention squad. 11 #16 Loyola Marymount .............................. W, 21-7 11 #7 Pacific ..................................................... W, 12-6 BEST SINCE: Stanford’s 25 wins are its most since the Cardinal went 25-6 in 2008 and finished as the NCAA 12 #3 California ................................................. L, 11-7 runner-up. The program has not won more than 25 since going 27-1 and winning a national championship in 12 at #1 UCLA ..................................................... W, 7-6 1994. Stanford reached 20 wins for the 29th time in its history, the eighth time under John Vargas and for the second season in a row. 18 #1 USC * (P12N) ................................... W, 11-10 19 at #8 UC Santa Barbara * ............................ W, 13-6 24 at #3 UCLA * (P12N) ....................................... L, 7-6 HC JOHN VARGAS NATIONAL POLL (DEC. 3) 26 at #11 Pepperdine * .................................... W, 13-4 Year Record NCAA Rank School Previous Points November 2002 24-5 CHAMPIONS 1 (T) Stanford 1 97 1 #5 Long Beach State * .......................... W, 14-12 2003 22-5 Second 1 (T) UCLA 2 97 8 at #5 California * (P12N) ............................. W, 11-9 2004 23-5 Second 3 USC 4 90 12 at #17 Santa Clara....................................... W, 22-5 2005 20-7 Second 4 Long Beach State 3 87 15 #7 Pacific * ............................................. W, 11-8 2006 17-9 — 5 California 5 80 2007 17-8 — 6 UC San Diego 6 74 MPSF Tournament (Long Beach, Calif.) 2008 25-6 Second 7 UC Santa Barbara 7 66 21 #10 Pepperdine ........................................... W, 13-4 2009 21-4 — 8 Brown 9 59 22 #3 USC ........................................................... W, 7-4 2010 15-8 — 9 (T) Pacific 10 58 23 #4 Long Beach State ..................................... W, 9-8 2011 19-7 — 9 (T) Pepperdine 8 58 2012 16-7 — 11 (T) Princeton 12 52 December 2013 23-6 Third 11 (T) UC Irvine 11 52 NCAA Championships (San Diego, Calif.) 2014 25-3 13 UC Davis 13 38 6 #3 USC ......................................................3:12 p.m. Overall 267-80 .769 14 Loyola Marymount 14 29 7 #1 UCLA/#6 UC San Diego ............................... TBD 15 Navy 15 (T) 28 16 St. Francis Brooklyn 18 20 * – MPSF game; 17 Bucknell 20 (T) 19 All times Pacific and subject to change; 18 Air Force 15 (T) 16 19 Santa Clara 17 15 Home games in Bold (at Avery Aquatic Center); 20 California Baptist 19 10 P12N - Game televised on Pac-12 Networks 2014 Stanford Men’s Water Polo #GoStanford STANFORD QUICK FACTS OFFENSIVE ONSLAUGHT: Stanford has scored at least 20 goals 10 times this season. In the previous decade Location ........................................ Stanford, Calif. (2004-13), the Cardinal reached that mark in a single game on 12 total occasions. Stanford has scored 422 total Founded .........................................................1891 goals in 2014. Last season was the only time in the past decade Stanford totaled more than 400 or averaged Enrollment ............15,877 (6,980 undergraduate) more than 12 per contest (413; 14.2/game). Colors .....................................Cardinal and White Affiliation ......................................NCAA Division I ALL AT ONCE: Prior to this season, four Stanford men’s water polo players had ever reached the 200-goal pla- Conference .............................Pac-12 Conference teau and two more added their names in a one-week span in late September. At the Kap7 NorCal Classic on Sun- President ..................................... John Hennessy day, Sept. 21, Alex Bowen attained the hallowed mark and was joined by teammate Bret Bonanni on Sunday, Sept. 28 at the Aggie Shootout. Bonanni (255 career goals) and Bowen (245) are second and third on Stanford’s Athletic Director ..............................Bernard Muir all-time list, respectively, among other 200-goal luminaries Tony Azevedo (332; 2001-04), James Bergeson (235; Soccer Administrator .................... Earl Koberlein 1979-82), Jody Campbell (211; 1978-81) and Wolf Wigo (203; 1991-94). Athletic Department Phone ......... (650) 723-4591 Ticket Office Phone ................... (800) STANFORD CONFERENCE ALL-TIMERS: Bonanni is fifth all-time in MPSF history in goals (255) and just passed USC’s Nikola Home Pool ..........................Avery Aquatic Center Vavic (254; 2010-13). He is three shy of UCI’s Ryan Bailey (258; 1995-98) for fourth. Alex Bowen’s eight goals at the Capacity ...................................................2,530 MPSF Tournament put him at 245 and in the all-time MPSF top-10. COACHING STAFF ON PACE: Bonanni, whose 97 goals a year ago were a Stanford single-season record, is ahead of the pace set by Head Coach ............... John Vargas (13th season) the legendary Tony Azevedo for the Cardinal career record. Azevedo had 163 goals after his sophomore season Alma Mater...................................UC Irvine ‘83 and finished with a school-record 332. Bonanni had 170 coming into this year. His 97 goals in 2013 broke the Record at Stanford ................................267-80 school record previously held by Azevedo, who had 95 in 2002. Bonanni