UCLA Men’s Water Polo Loses to Stanford, 7-5; Faces San Jose State Today

UCLA lost to Stanford yesterday to fall to fourth in the MPSF standings with an 0-2 conference record.

That also hurts the Bruins’ chances of even making this year’s NCAA Tournament.

UCLA will now need to win next Saturday against Southern Cal at home along with having a strong MPSF Tournament if they hope to make the NCAA Tourney.

But, first, the Bruins must face the San Jose State Spartans this afternoon at West Valley College in Saratoga, which is where SJSU has been playing their home games the past two seasons.

It’s been exactly one year since UCLA last played San Jose State. In that game, the Bruins defeated the Spartans, 10-3, at home.

Yesterday, UCLA and Stanford finished the first quarter tied at 1-1 after Alex Roelse tied the game with 6:02 left in the quarter. In the second quarter, Jesse Camou got the Bruins the lead, but Stanford tied it with just under 3 minutes to go and then Ben Hallock gave the Cardinal the lead for good when he scored with just four seconds left in the half.

The Bruins fell behind 4-2 after the break, but Max Irving cut the lead back to just one with just 2:26 to go in the period. Hallock’s complete his hat trick to give the Cardinal a two goal lead again before Nicolas Saveljic cut the lead in half again.

After another Stanford goal increased the lead to two again, Saveljic scored his second goal to bring the Bruins to within one for the third time. But that was all the scoring UCLA could muster as Stanford added an insurance goal on a power play and the final score was 7-5.

This is your UCLA vs. San Jose State open thread.


Go Bruins!