The Stanford Cardinal men’s water polo team secured a 16-7 victory over No. 6 Pacific in their final regular season home game, improving their record to 14-6. The match, held at Stanford, saw Botond Balogh lead all scorers with four goals. Five members of the Cardinal scored multiple goals.
“Pacific’s a really well-coached team and obviously a really tough non-conference opponent,” said Dunlevie Family Director of Men’s Water Polo Brian Flacks. “Good win to close our non-conference schedule, and proud of the team for going undefeated this year against non-conference opponents.”
Stanford started strong, with Alex Gheorghe scoring twice in the first minute for an early 2-0 lead. Additional first-period goals from Gianpiero Di Martire, Botond Balogh, Max Zelikov, and Will Schneider put Stanford ahead 6-0 before Pacific scored their first goal.
Gheorghe completed his hat trick at the start of the second period. Di Martire and Schneider each added their second goals while Chase McFarland contributed his first, giving Stanford a 10-3 halftime advantage.
Both teams matched each other in the third quarter, bringing the score to 13-6 entering the fourth. Balogh notched his second and third goals during this period.
In the final quarter, Balogh scored his fourth goal to extend Stanford’s lead. Orestis Zervoudakis then added two more goals within a minute to push the margin to double digits at 16-6.
Balogh led all scorers with four goals and two assists for six total points. Ben Forer followed with five points from four assists and one goal.
With this win, Stanford completed its non-conference schedule undefeated at 13-0. The team will finish its regular season on the road against No. 4 California in Berkeley next weekend before returning home to host both the MPSF Championship starting November 21 and the NCAA Championship beginning December 5.
