The No. 4 Stanford men’s water polo team picked up two crucial wins over the weekend, beating No. 5 UC-Irvine on the road Saturday 8-6 and then cruising past No. 15 Santa Clara 13-6 at Avery Aquatic Center on Sunday.

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Roxna Irani

Junior driver Steven Wright and the Stanford men’s water polo team won a tight conference match and blew out a non-conference opponent this weekend. The Cardinal will finish the league season with a winning record if the team can beat top-ranked California this week before the start of the MPSF tournament.

The Cardinal’s overall record improves to 15-6, and the squad is now 4-3 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) play. Stanford has struggled to finally break the .500 mark in the MPSF, a crucial factor in its quest for one of the four spots in the NCAA Championships and a shot at the national title.

“MPSF games are so important because it’s league play, which gives us a much better opportunity to do well in the MPSF tournament,” sophomore driver Sage Wright said. “And that is our way to the NCAA Tournament.”

Stanford started off the weekend with sophomore utility Janson Wigo’s four goals to spearhead the attack against Irvine. Senior goalkeeper Sandy Hohener then held off a second-half Anteater rally with 16 saves.

The Cardinal went up 4-1 before halftime and kept the offensive pressure going into the second half. Wright’s goal with 5:55 left in the game gave the Cardinal an 8-4 lead. However, Irvine’s Cole Bitter and Colin Mello each delivered a goal in the waning minutes to cut the lead down to two goals. Stanford’s season-long emphasis on defense and teamwork paid dividends, as the Anteaters were stifled in the last three minutes of the game, securing a Cardinal victory.

“I think a big part of our game is to press on defense,” Janson Wigo said. “We’re known for our defense, and we emphasize that a lot during practice. Both teams have pretty good shooters, so to win you need to work on the counter attacks, the small fundamental stuff, and play solid defense.”

Stanford also got goals from junior utility Will Hindle-Katel, sophomore two-meter attacker Ryan McCarthy and sophomore utility Drac Wigo in the victory.

The Cardinal returned home on Sunday to face Santa Clara and came out on top with a 13-6 win, extending its season-best winning streak to six games. Hindle-Katel and Wright came up huge offensively for the second straight day, both scoring three goals. Senior two-meter attacker Michael Bury and senior two-meter defender Ryan Fortune contributed two goals each to the effort.

The game started with both teams clamping down on defense. The first quarter saw only one goal for Stanford while Santa Clara was held scoreless. The second quarter featured much more offensive output as the Cardinal surged ahead with five goals to Santa Clara’s two to go into halftime up 6-2.

Stanford built on its lead immediately in the second half with five goals in the third period. With the score 11-5 going into the fourth quarter, Stanford never looked back, scoring twice more to seal the win with the defensive help of Hohener, Fortune and senior two-meter defender Peter Finlayson. Finlayson and junior driver Chris Jacobsen also contributed goals on Sunday.

“We really focused more on the tactical stuff,” Wright said. “We really didn’t get to play like that last weekend, so we need to play tactically in order to win. The two-meter defenders did a great job, because they do all the dirty work and mostly they don’t get a lot of credit. But overall, we have to play each game and give it 100 percent effort and just focus on team play.”

Stanford will face off against No. 1 Cal next in what may be the team’s biggest game of the year. The Cardinal’s regular season finale against the Bears is scheduled for 7 p.m., Friday at Avery Aquatic Center.