Stanford club polo teams win silver, bronze

A gold medal was just about the only thing that eluded the boys from the Stanford Water Polo Club as they produced one of the program’s best combined finishes ever at the National Junior Olympics on Tuesday.

The Stanford 14-under team brought home a silver medal after dropping a 7-6 decision to SET in the championship game at Lynbrook High. The 18-under Red team brought home a bronze after beating Los Angeles Water Polo Club in a shootout, 13-12, also at Lynbrook.

The Stanford 16-under Red team won the fifth-place game with a 9-5 triumph over the Los Angeles Water Polo Club at Homestead. The Stanford 12s defeated Sultan, 10-9, at Wilcox High to finish 17th with a 3-1-1 record, losing only to eventual champion Los Alamitos.

“It was a very successful weekend for the program,” said Jon Barnea, head coach of the 16s and assistant to program director Jon Vargas. “We had three teams in the top five. I don’t know of any other program with three teams in the top five.”

The Stanford 14s had the best chance to earn the program’s first gold at the Junior Olympics since 1993 after compiling a 6-0 record to reach the finals against Long Beach-based SET.

That gold looked very real when Colin Mulcahy and Mark Garner gave Stanford a 2-0 lead in the first quarter. SET battled back to tie the match at 4 at halftime, scoring the tying goal with just 44 seconds remaining.

Stanford opened the third quarter with a 6-on-5 opportunity, but never got a shot off. SET went on to score three unanswered goals while holding Stanford scoreless in the period.

Down 7-4 entering the fourth quarter, Stanford rallied behind goals from Garner and Peter Simon to draw to within 7-6.

Stanford had a chance to tie following a steal by Casey Fleming with 22 seconds to play, but an ill-advised cross-pool pass was intercepted by SET with 14 seconds remaining and the gold medal was gone for Stanford.

“It’s a tough loss, but they accomplished a lot this season,” said Stanford coach Matt Schubert. “Finishing second out of 32 teams isn’t bad. We were sixth last year.”

While the 14s were disheartened with their loss at Lynbrook before an overflow crowd, the Stanford 18s were just the opposite following their exciting comeback victory that gave them an 8-2 record in the four-day national event.

Stanford trailed 7-5 entering the fourth quarter after losing its top defender, Brian Roach, to a third ejection early in the third period.

Stanford scored a miraculous goal with one second left in the third quarter when Marko Pance threw a low, slipping shot into the cage from mid-pool. Stanford scored again with 1:30 left to force a shootout.

Without Roach and injured starter Evan Dellinger, coach Reid Particelli informed Will Agramonte and Tom Avery just before the shootout that they would be added to the five-man shootout lineup.

Both teams made their five penalty shots, forcing a second round. Stanford’s Marko Pance made his second attempt and then Palo Alto goalie Will Simon came up with a huge save to clinch the victory.

“It was exciting,” said Particelli, who escaped being thrown into the pool on a very hot day in San Jose. “They really over-achieved. No one gave this team a chance for a medal, but they proved everyone wrong. It was a great tournament.”

Winning the shootout seemed appropriate since the Stanford 18s lost a shootout in the semifinals to East Bay power Lamorinda, which went on to beat SoCal in the championship match, 5-4.