10-13-2018, 11:28 PM
If you're in the vicinity of Stanford on Sunday, you would be well served to drop by the Stanford pools for some great water polo. All the nation's top 9 teams and many of the world's best players will be playing the final day of the MPSF Invitational. 2 parallel sets of 4 games will be played. Stanford's championship game will be at 2:30PM. If you can't be there, you can watch it on a GoStanford.com feed (but watching in person is much better). Tickets for the day are $20 I think, so go early and enjoy the weather.
As you may know, perennially the top 4 teams are Stanford, Cal, USC, and UCLA. Usually the fall-off to #5 is pretty steep. Stanford was #3 when it beat #1 USC 13-11 a week ago at Stanford, propelling Stanford to a #1 ranking. In that game, Stanford got to a brobdingnagian 5 goal lead 12-7 in the third but USC pulled to within 1 goal late in the fourth. All the momentum was with USC into the last minute, but a Stanford goal with 31 seconds remaining sealed the win.
On Saturday afternoon, Stanford was up big on #6 Pacific, 12-6, in the third quarter. But a questionable call of a goal (that I didn't think crossed the goal line) led to a momentary reaction by the Stanford goalie, leading to a yellow card. Another Stanford player had received a yellow card earlier, which meant that Stanford's goalie was disqualified. Stanford had to sub in a freshman who had only 2 quarters of college-level experience. While he's good, Pacific took to firing quickly at the inexperienced goalie. That was effective. Pacific pulled within one in the last minute, but got no closer. Stanford advanced to the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals in the evening, #1 Stanford vs #2 UCLA was even closer. Stanford led early in the game, but UCLA came back to tie it up in the 3rd quarter. It was 5-5 going into the last quarter. Stanford got a goal, but UCLA answered 26 seconds later. With just 2:18 left in the match, UCLA went ahead for the first time. About 1:20 left in the game, in a 6 on 5, it appeared that UCLA scored again to go two up (with but 2 likely possessions left for Stanford - shot clock is 30 seconds) but the goal didn't count because the player had moved into the 2-meter zone before he received the ball.
Then with just 54 seconds left, Stanford scored to tie the game. As I recall, UCLA benefited from a shot rebound back to themselves, but failed to score on either shot. Stanford got the ball back with only 6 seconds on the clock, and called a timeout. When play resumed, the ball came to a player well out from the goal, but in the center of the goal. Instead of shooting, he found a player on the wing who buried a shot with one second on the clock.
On Sunday, games start at 10AM. (Games typically last about an hour each.) Rankings are national rankings.
10:00 #9 Long Beach State vs #6 Pacific
11:30 #5 UCSB vs #8 Pepperdine
1:00 #4 Cal vs #2 UCLA
2:30 #1 Stanford vs #3 USC
(You might ask why #7 is missing. #7 Davis is playing in the other pool vs #11 UCSD, as are #12, #15, #18)
USC probably has adjusted their tactics as a result of their loss last week. It was a physical game and will likely be so again. Should Stanford beat USC again, it will help assure a place in the National Championship as one of the 3 teams that can participate from the MPSF, even if Stanford falls to UCLA later in the season and then again loses at the MPSF championship.
As you may know, perennially the top 4 teams are Stanford, Cal, USC, and UCLA. Usually the fall-off to #5 is pretty steep. Stanford was #3 when it beat #1 USC 13-11 a week ago at Stanford, propelling Stanford to a #1 ranking. In that game, Stanford got to a brobdingnagian 5 goal lead 12-7 in the third but USC pulled to within 1 goal late in the fourth. All the momentum was with USC into the last minute, but a Stanford goal with 31 seconds remaining sealed the win.
On Saturday afternoon, Stanford was up big on #6 Pacific, 12-6, in the third quarter. But a questionable call of a goal (that I didn't think crossed the goal line) led to a momentary reaction by the Stanford goalie, leading to a yellow card. Another Stanford player had received a yellow card earlier, which meant that Stanford's goalie was disqualified. Stanford had to sub in a freshman who had only 2 quarters of college-level experience. While he's good, Pacific took to firing quickly at the inexperienced goalie. That was effective. Pacific pulled within one in the last minute, but got no closer. Stanford advanced to the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals in the evening, #1 Stanford vs #2 UCLA was even closer. Stanford led early in the game, but UCLA came back to tie it up in the 3rd quarter. It was 5-5 going into the last quarter. Stanford got a goal, but UCLA answered 26 seconds later. With just 2:18 left in the match, UCLA went ahead for the first time. About 1:20 left in the game, in a 6 on 5, it appeared that UCLA scored again to go two up (with but 2 likely possessions left for Stanford - shot clock is 30 seconds) but the goal didn't count because the player had moved into the 2-meter zone before he received the ball.
Then with just 54 seconds left, Stanford scored to tie the game. As I recall, UCLA benefited from a shot rebound back to themselves, but failed to score on either shot. Stanford got the ball back with only 6 seconds on the clock, and called a timeout. When play resumed, the ball came to a player well out from the goal, but in the center of the goal. Instead of shooting, he found a player on the wing who buried a shot with one second on the clock.
On Sunday, games start at 10AM. (Games typically last about an hour each.) Rankings are national rankings.
10:00 #9 Long Beach State vs #6 Pacific
11:30 #5 UCSB vs #8 Pepperdine
1:00 #4 Cal vs #2 UCLA
2:30 #1 Stanford vs #3 USC
(You might ask why #7 is missing. #7 Davis is playing in the other pool vs #11 UCSD, as are #12, #15, #18)
USC probably has adjusted their tactics as a result of their loss last week. It was a physical game and will likely be so again. Should Stanford beat USC again, it will help assure a place in the National Championship as one of the 3 teams that can participate from the MPSF, even if Stanford falls to UCLA later in the season and then again loses at the MPSF championship.