WHAT’S NEXT: No. 4 Stanford hosts No. 1 UCLA and travels to No. 5 Pacific this weekend. The Cardinal welcomes the top-ranked Bruins to Avery Aquatic Center on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. in its first home game since Sept. 20, when the same two teams met in the championship game of the Kap7 NorCal Invitational, UCLA won that game, 8-7. On Sunday, Stanford travels to the Tigers for a noon matchup in Stockton, Calif.
UCLA AND PACIFC: UCLA enters the weekend 17-0 for the season. Pacific is 14-2 on the year. The Bruins and Cardinal faced off in the title game of the Kap7 NorCal Invitational on Sept. 20 at Avery Aquatic Center with the Bruins escaping with an 8-7 victory. Stanford has not faced Pacific yet this year.
HOW TO FOLLOW: Saturday’s game against UCLA will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Networks with Jason Knapp and former Cardinal All-American Chris Dorst on the call. Fans can follow Sunday’s contest at Pacific through the school’s live stream at Pacific's official athletic website.
A LOOK AT THE POLLS: The Cardinal moved to No. 4 in this week’s Collegiate Water Polo Association national poll, swapping places with Cal following its defeat to the Golden Bears last Sunday. Stanford has been in the top four of the national poll every week this season.
CHASING THE RECORD: Senior Bret Bonanni enters this weekend just 11 goals shy from tying Tony Azevedo’s Stanford and MPSF record of 332 from 2001-04. After concluding his junior season with a conference-leading 96 goals, he has a team-leading 55 goals in Stanford’s first 18 games. The senior recorded a career-best nine goals in the season-opening victory over MIT on Sept. 5. Bonanni is the only Cardinal in history to post multiple 90-goal seasons. He has scored in 17 of Stanford’s 18 games with multiple goals in 14 contests this season. Bonanni has recorded 84 career multiple goal games and 61 career hat tricks.
51 STRAIGHT: Senior Bret Bonanni scored at least one goal in 51 straight games from Oct. 13, 2013 to Sept. 20, 2015. His streak was snapped when he was held scoreless in Stanford’s 6-5 victory No. 2 USC in the semifinals of the NorCal Invitational.
NINE IN A ROW: Stanford’s eight wins to open the 2015 season, coupled with its victory over UCSD in the NCAA Third Place game to close the 2014 campaign, gave the Cardinal nine-straight wins. It’s the longest winning streak since Stanford won 11 consecutive contests during the 2013 season.
MPSF LEADER: Senior Bret Bonanni (55) leads the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in scoring, averaging 3.06 goals per game. Redshirt junior Adam Abdulhamid (40) ranks sixth in the league, averaging 2.22 goals per game. Senior Drew Holland ranks fourth among regular starters in the MPSF in goals against average at 6.95.
As a team, Stanford ranks second in scoring (16.00 Goals/Game) and fourth in defense (allowing 6.22 Goals/Game).
ABDULHAMID SCORING: Redshirt junior Adam Abdulhamid, who scored 14 goals in four wins at the Aggie Roundup Sept. 26-27, is second on the team with 40 for the season. The 40 goals in 18 games has already surpassed his 31 goals in 30 games during the 2014 season. Abdulhamid has scored a career-high five goals twice this season, in the season opener against MIT and Sept. 27 against Santa Clara.
MENDOZA STARTING STRONG: In his first season of action after redshirting as a true freshman last year, Mitchell Mendoza has scored at least one goal in 15 of Stanford’s 18 games. He ranks third on the team in scoring with 25 goals. Mendoza has scored in nine of the last 11 contests for the Cardinal.
MOST GOALS SINCE: Stanford’s 29 goals against MIT on Sept. 5 were its most in a game in nearly three decades, matching the Cardinal’s 29 scores against Harvard in the Brown Invitational on Sept. 26, 1986.
19 IN SIX: Stanford scored at least 19 goals in six straight games (first six games of the season) for the first time in the John Vargas era (dating back to 2002). The Cardinal posted 19 each against St. Francis Brooklyn and Brown, 20 against Bucknell, 21 against Harvard and a season-best 29 against MIT. The streak started with a 20-goal performance against UCSD in the NCAA third-place game on Dec. 7, 2014.
LAST TIME VS. UCLA: Top-ranked UCLA edged fourth-ranked Stanford, 8-7, in the Championship Game of the Kap7 NorCal Invitational on Sept. 20 at Avery Aquatic Center. Trailing 6-3 in the middle of the third quarter, the Cardinal used a pair of goals from Bret Bonanni and a score from Mitchell Mendoza in a span of 1:59 to tie the game at 6-6. UCLA’s Ryder Roberts ended the Cardinal run, scoring with 50 seconds left in the period to give the Bruins a 7-6 edge heading into the final quarter.
Chancellor Ramirez then gave UCLA a two-score lead, corralling a loose ball off a rebound and scoring with 4:52 to play. Bonanni registered his third goal of the game with 43 seconds left to make it 8-7, but the Bruins held off the Cardinal to take the win.
Junior goalie Drew Holland posted 12 saves against the Bruins.