The ninth seed UC Irvine (9-8, 0-0) Men’s Water Polo team played a close home match against first seed Stanford (16-0, 0-0) in the 2022 Gary Troyer Tournament but fell short with a 19-15 loss on Friday, Oct. 7.
UCI sophomore attacker and the match’s leading scorer Ethan Shipman came ready to play, scoring the first goal with the help of a cross pass from sophomore attacker Dylan Patist. Soon after, Stanford began showing up to the pool, scoring two back-to-back goals off of a couple misplays by the ‘Eaters. An exclusion called against Stanford led to a power play for the ‘Eaters and a goal by senior attacker Zlatan Nikocevic, assisted by Shipman. Stanford took the quarter 4-3, with one extra goal courtesy of a goal pass by freshman driver Luka Krstic.
The second quarter began with Shipman scoring quickly off of a five meter penalty. Stanford then fired back with a goal of their own, a mere 22 seconds after. The Cardinals went on to score another at the 6:02 timeslot. Patist nabbed his first goal of the game soon afterward with the help of Nikocevic, keeping the score close at 6-5. Following that, Stanford scored two consecutive goals and — after yet another goal by Shipman — went on to score two more points, putting up big numbers by the end of the first half at 11-6.
Once the second half and third quarter started, the Anteaters showed some signs of life offensively with sophomore driver Stewart Campbell scoring his first goal of the night. Immediately after, with Shipman’s assistance, sophomore center Tyler Padua grabbed his first goal of the night, bringing the game closer at 8-11 with a three-point deficit for the ‘Eaters.
Stanford tore up the surface of the pool by scoring three goals within two minutes and a fourth at the 2:53 mark, an impressive feat. UCI sophomore driver Zachary Baxter went on to score a goal for his team with the aid of redshirt sophomore attacker Jake Liechty, easing the damage to keep the score at 15-9. The Cardinals scored one more before the end of the quarter. Not long after Shipman made full use of the team’s advantage around the cage to score one more and ease the score 10-16.
The fourth quarter began with a cannon firing from Padua into the upper corner on the left side, with Campbell with the assist. Stanford went on to drive in two more goals. Not long after, Anteater sophomore utility Jack Stevens and sophomore attacker Archer Sauer set up a play to score an impressive under-the-goalkeeper-arm shot into the net, keeping the score somewhat closer at 13-18.
Liechty went on to lob the ball from the post for a goal, 14-19. For the final goal of the night, Baxter made a well-executed high corner cross cage shot to finalize the score at 15-19 for the ‘Eaters.
This concluded the game, with No. 1 seed Stanford remaining undefeated.
Next, the Anteaters look to take on Cal Baptist University at the Anteater Aquatics Center at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 12. Watch the match here.
Phillip Lemus is a Sports Intern for Fall 2022. They can be reached at plemus1@uci.edu