12-12. We have sudden death overtime.
Big sprint here. UCLA has won all 6
UCLA 13-12. Castillo drew a five meter and Carsalade notched it in for the victory.
Great ballgame.
3 Likes
Didn’t someone mention a stat recently that Ohl was 100% on his sprints with over 30 sprints? Ryder vs Ohl on that final sprint was a big one. Dodd won and Stanford got the stop. Not much out of Stanford’s timeout play following their stop, however.
He lost all 7 sprints today. I would bet that has never happened and will likely never happen again.
He did not want to shoot either. Ucla completely dropped off of him.
He hasn’t been as good lately. I think Toth got him a couple times at least and they went uncontested at least once. Tico and Ryder got him today
Stanford and UCLA both played fantastic defense today. Both goalies were awesome. I said this last week and I’ll say it again. There is no other goalie I’d rather have than West. Stanford really shut down Ryder Dodd. I don’t recall one open shot for him. Stanford was very good keeping the ball out of center in the 1st half, but that broke down in the 2nd half and overtime. I’d say their biggest weakness is center defender and for some reason their zone was not effective after halftime. UCLA played their usual stellar defense, that picked up in the 2nd half after enduring a lot of exclusions in the 1st. I don’t recall seeing a single exclusion on the perimeter for either team, which was nice to see. UCLA was tentative on offense for a big chunk of the game and I thought they passed up some shots that should have been taken (especially Chase Dodd). Szesci and Castillo had great games with 4 exclusions each and Ryder drew 3 exclusions on post ups. Felt like UCLA should have pulled away in this one but Temkin kept them in it. UCLA also did a nice job on Balogh 1-5 and Forer 2-6. I’m tempted to go to USC Stanford tomorrow but will probably end up going to the Cal game. Both teams need a win tomorrow
2 Likes
The 6 on 5 play UCLA ran got Ryder open for a near side shot and I feel like Stanford would have wanted to have that possession of defense back. One momentary lapse and Ryder makes them pay for it.
1 Like
Despite Stanford’s loss today, they are trending upward.
It will be a really close and interesting battle between Cal and Stanford for the second at large (if neither of them win MPSF’s).
Cal currently 0-2 vs UCLA, 2-1 vs USC, and 0-1 vs Stanford.
Stanford currently 0-3 vs UCLA, 0-2 vs USC, 1-0 vs Cal
I could see both teams losing tomorrow, Stanford beating Cal in two weekends, and then whoever finishes higher at the MPSF tournament making NCAA’s. I could also see Stanford going on a tear, beating SC tomorrow, Cal in two weekends, and finishing first or second at MPSF. Either way, I think Stanford will get in.
1 Like
Even that goal had a degree of difficulty to it. He had a small opening. The pass he made to Szcesi on 6/5 was the play of the game
4 Likes
Just penalty+regular 6 on 5 for NCAA.
The “4 minute 6 on 5” is a USAWP rule, announcer was likely thinking of that.
2 Likes
He’ll get his groove back. Nonetheless another great day of polo here in SoCal. Pumped for tomorrow truly feels like any MPSF team could beat each other any day.
That was the play of the game in my mind, besides the last 5 meter drawn.
I wanted to say a few more words about Fordham after it garnered some discussion yesterday. I think this is a team with a lot of talent. Eppel has been one of the best centers in the country this year. Provenziani and Toth are arguably the best 1/2 side in the country offensively and they compliment each other very well. Silvestri is a lethal outside shooter and the lefty they brought in has improved throughout the course of the season. The only glaring issue roster wise is probably the depth, it’s a big drop off from the first 6 to the next 6.
However, I still don’t believe it’s a recipe for a national championship. This program has now won four consecutive conference championships and has made the final four. They’ve made it clear they wanna compete for a national championship. In the 21st century, the winner of the NCAA tournament has held its opponents to 12 or less goals in every single championship game. Fordham hasent proven they can do that. They are pretty sloppy on the defensive end and lack team chemistry on that end of the pool and are often uncoordinated and undisciplined. They clearly have the weapons on offense, but when they come up against defenses like UCLA and Stanford, the offense will not be able to sustain for 32 minutes and the defense will have to step up, which I’ve yet to seen from them, whether it was last year or this year.
2 Likes
Fordham and Navy are 12-11 after three. Navy pulled the goalie and scored on a 7 on 6 to cut the lead to one.
1 Like
15-13 with 2 minutes left. The game is streaming on Navy’s Youtube channel.
1 Like
Fordham 16-14 is the final over Navy.
3 Likes
With the caliber of players that Nicolao has recruited this season and last, you have to believe they’ll push Fordham sooner than later.
I agree. I can’t help but think that Stanford will take the bid. Today will be a big indicator but even if they do lose against USC today, I predict they will beat Cal in 2 weeks giving them the 2-0 H2H.