The No. 3 Stanford men’s water polo team enjoyed a hectic yet thrilling SoCal Tournament over the weekend on the campus of host school UC-Irvine. The Cardinal fought its way to a second place finish overall after two days and four games, including a win over No. 2 Cal. The weekend’s action brings Stanford’s record to 8-4 on the year.

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ADRIAN GAITAN/The Stanford Daily Senior goalkeeper Sandy Hohener played a huge role in No. 2 Stanford’s successful tournament this past weekend. Despite losing to USC 11-6 in the SoCal Tournament Final, the Cardinal comes out of the weekend with confidence at a high. #gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/8004
Adrian Gaitan/Stanford Daily File Photo

ADRIAN GAITAN/The Stanford Daily Senior goalkeeper Sandy Hohener played a huge role in No. 2 Stanford’s successful tournament this past weekend. Despite losing to USC 11-6 in the SoCal Tournament Final, the Cardinal comes out of the weekend with confidence at a high.

The men started their tourney play on Saturday morning against No. 16 Princeton. They cruised easily into the second round with a 16-5 rout over their opponents with hat tricks from freshman utility Jeffrey Schwimer and senior two-meter/offense Michael Bury.

“You can never really underestimate those teams. We always try to come out strongly against teams, and I guess we were feeling good,” said sophomore driver Sage Wright. “We executed over what we worked on during practice, focused on defense, and that’s where we were able to step up offensively when we needed to.”

Six hours later, the Cardinal had to face off against host school UC-Irvine. Stanford, however, showed no signs of fatigue as it immediately surged ahead with an 8-1 lead going into the third quarter. Sophomore utility Drac Wigo scored a game-high five goals as the team played its way to a comfortable 12-5 victory over the Anteaters.

“We were able to stick to our game plans as we went forward, and we really wanted to not have to run specific plays and sets, but just play fundamentally sound water polo,” said senior two-meter/defense Peter Finlayson. “Now we have the No. 2 ranking in the nation, which is really important. We didn’t have to show our hand so we can use that when we play in the MPSF.”

The team faced its first real challenge of the tournament against archrival Cal in the semifinals at Irvine.

The game started off grimly for the Cardinal as it fell behind at halftime, 3-1. Stanford, however, showed gritty determination in climbing back from the deficit to even the score at 8-8 by the end of regulation.

Sage Wright contributed a hat trick, senior two-meter/defense Ryan Fortune found the net twice, and junior driver Andrew Drake, sophomore utility Janson Wigo, Schwimer and Bury all scored, as well. The first three minutes of extra play saw Cal’s Michael Sharf score. However, freshman driver Alex Pulido answered Cal’s goal in the second overtime, and the Bay Area rivals found themselves in a sudden-death period.

Fortune scored in the first three minutes of the sudden-death period to give Stanford one of its most hard-earned and cherished victories of the season. The win also signified Stanford’s first win over an opponent ranked higher than the Card.

“I really think Alex Pulido and [Jeffrey] Schwimer have played really well and are showing their figure out there on the team,” said senior goalkeeper Sandy Hohener. “[They] really showed where they fit in and scored big goals in the Cal game. [Freshman goalkeeper] Brian Pingree stepped in for the early games, and he’s definitely solid, and he’ll be around for the years to come.”

“I think we showed our toughness,” Hohener continued. “We got down 5-1 and could have easily rolled over and become content making the top four, which was the goal of the tournament. But we got back, chipped in and never got down on ourselves. It’s one of those games that makes you proud of being on the team.”

An exhausted Stanford team went into the finals against top-ranked USC in the afternoon; despite the best efforts of junior utility Will Hindle-Katel (who had two goals) and eight saves from Hohener, the Trojans beat the Cardinal for the third straight time this season, 11-6. USC went on to win the tournament title as Stanford placed second for the weekend event.

“In the grand scheme of things, beating USC [on Sunday] wasn’t the number one goal,” Hohener said. “Fatigue was a big factor in the loss.”

Now ranked No. 2 in the nation, Stanford will face off against Occidental College at Long Beach State on Sunday, Oct. 21.