2026 MWP - Printable Version

2026 MWP - Printable Version

+- The CardBoard (https://thecardboard.org/board)
+-- Forum: C-House! (https://thecardboard.org/board/forum-4.html)
+--- Forum: The CardBoard (https://thecardboard.org/board/forum-5.html)
+--- Thread: 2026 MWP (/thread-26312.html)

Pages: 1 2

2026 MWP - M T - 09-20-2026

The 2026 Overnight MPSF Invitational Water Polo tournament is ongoing at Stanford this weekend.
Sunday will be a beautiful day. Come see #3 Stanford take on #1 UCLA at 2PM at Avery pool. ($20; $15 student/senior). There is a women's soccer game at 1, so the parking by the stadium will be full.

Today, I first saw #3 Stanford get a too-tight win over #6 Long Beach State by a score of 17-13. It was the first time I had seen them play this year and I wasn't that impressed in this game. The half time score was 8-4, which was good, but LB State played Stanford even in the 2nd half. When I look at the team stats, Stanford had a clear edge.

As I looked over the roster, I found out Stanford's hole player, Alex Gheorge, is listed at 6'3", 335 pounds! Immense, and impossible to move. That isn't fat. While he may not be the fastest swimmer out there, he does have good speed. His hands seem good. He didn't play overly aggressive either.

In previous years, Stanford was mostly a USA-style fast team that got a lot of goals from their speed. Now, it seems they play a European style based on having a big guy in the hole.

Ryan Ohl (Conn.) and Botond Balogh (Hungary) scored 4 goals, James Rozolis-Hill (Calif.) scored 3. Ben Forer (Calif.) and Dimitris Chatzis (Greece) scored 2 each

I guess I didn't really recognize the skill of Stanford's goalie in that first game. He saved 43.5% of the shots on goal (compared to 22.7% for the opposing goalie).

Stanford's shots were often on the goal. 17 of 30 shots scored. 7 of those 13 non-scoring shots were saves, leaving 6 misses.
LB State had 13 of 38 shots that scored. 10 of those 25 non-scoring shots were saves, leaving 15 misses.

Next up was #8 UCSD vs #12 UCI which turned out to be a good game. Early on, I thought UCSD clearly had the better players, but UCI played well. Down 2 at the half, UCI got the lead in the 3rd, but the 3rd wound up tied. UCSD won 11-9.

The first semi-final today was #1 UCLA vs #4 Cal. UCLA got started early with a spread-out offense. UCLA is a very strong team, up 8-3 at the half. But Cal (which brought 22 players) fought back, only down 7-9 at the end of the third, and got close in the 4th, losing 10-11 as a last second shot skipped over the cage. UCLA's offense also uses a strong hole player.
Shooting %: Cal 41.7% (10/24), UCLA 37.9% (11/29)
Save %: Cal 41.2% (7/17) UCLA 50% (10/20)

The second semi-final was #3 Stanford vs #2 USC.

I found out that I underrated Stanford earlier. Stanford was clearly the better team today. BUT, I must say that I felt USC shot extremely poorly for a #2 team. If their shots hadn't missed so often, it would have been a different game.

Stanford's goalie, Bernardo Herzer (Calif.), did a fantastic job of blocking shots. (A number of blocks ricochetted out into the field and so USC got more chances.)
Botond Balogh scored 3 goals, Alex Gheorge (Romania) and Dimitris Chatzis scored 2 each.

USC scored the first goal, but it was mostly Stanford after that.
Stanford was ahead 6-2 after 2 periods, and ahead 10-5 going into the final period.
USC jabbed Stanford with 2 quick counterattack goals consecutively in the 4th, but Stanford still had a 3-goal cushion. Stanford was able to blunt the counterattacks, and gave up a meaningless goal with 9 seconds left.

Shooting %: Stanford 41.7% (10/24) USC 18.6% (8/43) !!
Save %: Stanford 73.3% (22/30) !! USC 37.5% (6/16).

RE: 2026 MWP - M T - 09-20-2026

I didn't make it to the games today, but followed the Stanford-UCLA game via live stats.
Maybe I should have gone. Maybe just one more cheering fan....

It was a tight game... UCLA up 3-2 after the 1st period. Stanford goes up 5-4 late in the 2nd period, only to have UCLA score a last second goal to make it 5-5.
Third period was UCLA's best period, going up 8-6 over Stanford.
In the 4th, Stanford wins the sprint and cuts the lead to 8-7 just 14 seconds in.
About the halfway point, after a Stanford save on a UCLA penalty shot, Stanford ties it up 8-8 on a power play.
But UCLA scores two quick goals, making it 10-8 with 2:47 to go.
Stanford doesn't give up. Stanford earns, and makes a penalty shot just 15 seconds later. 10-9
1:06 to go, Stanford ties it up.

Water polo has a 30 second shot clock. Even if UCLA scores, Stanford should get it back.
But 10 seconds later, a Stanford player is excluded, which resets the shot clock to 30 for UCLA.
Stanford steals the ball with 36 seconds on the clock. It was looking hopeful at that point.
But Stanford misses the shot and UCLA gets the ball with seven seconds on the clock.

Sigh... UCLA scores with 1 second on the clock, winning 11-10.

A tight game. It came down to who scored in that last minute.

Meanwhile USC beat Cal in another close game 13-12.

So, the rankings should be 1) UCLA, 2) Stanford, 3) USC, 4) Cal

Stanford plays the SoCal schools there on Oct 3 & 4, and at Stanford Oct 31 & Nov 1.
Stanford plays at Cal on Oct. 17 and at home on Nov 13.

RE: 2026 MWP - Spike - 10-03-2026

Beating #1 UCLA as we speak
19-15 in last qtr

RE: 2026 MWP - M T - 10-03-2026

(10-03-2026, 02:27 PM)Spike Wrote: Beating #1 UCLA as we speak
19-15 in last qtr

Stanford wins! 19-15
Stanford was ahead by one goal at the end of each of the first 3 quarters.

Stanford shot an amazing 63% to UCLA’s 44%. UCLA had four more power-play goals than Stanford, but Stanford had two more penalty goals.

(Busy weekend for me so I wasn’t following it)

RE: 2026 MWP - Spike - 10-03-2026

And Cal and USC tied late

RE: 2026 MWP - Gary86 - 10-03-2026

Going to be a great game tomorrow against USC. If Stanford wins they will move to number 1 in the country for sure.

RE: 2026 MWP - M T - 10-04-2026

(10-03-2026, 06:14 PM)Gary86 Wrote: Going to be a great game tomorrow against USC. If Stanford wins they will move to number 1 in the country for sure.

Impressive 5-0 first quarter by Stanford against USC.

The coffee kicked in for USC. After Stanford got to 6-0, USC scored 3 goals in 47 seconds.
USC scored with 7 seconds left to make it a one goal game(8-7). Stanford scored with 1 second left.
At the half, it is 9-7 in Stanford's flavor.

USC leads 7 steals to 1. USC has had 8 power plays to Stanford's 3. A number of the goals have been counterattacks.
I'm seeing multiple calls where USC steals the ball and the Stanford player is excluded. At one point, Stanford was down 2 players (but USC didn't score then).

Q3 was much more evenly matched, but same sort of play.
USC is up to 12 power plays versus 6 for Stanford, but Stanford has scored on 5 of theirs, while USC has 3 goals on theirs (but several more just after the power play ended).
After 3 quarters, Stanford is up 14-11.

RE: 2026 MWP - BostonCard - 10-04-2026

The live scoreboard is amongst the worst interface I've ever seen, though maybe that stems from my unfamiliarity with water polo. It is 16 - 12 in the fourth, but I have no idea how much time is left.

BC

RE: 2026 MWP - Spike - 10-04-2026

38 seconds

RE: 2026 MWP - M T - 10-04-2026

Stanford beats USC 16-12.

The 4th quarter was interesting. In water polo, a team should be able to prevent the other team from scoring more than 1 goal every 30 seconds or so by playing a 4-corners offense.
Stanford was up 4 goals with about 3.5 minutes to go. The USC head coach then got a yellow-red card, followed quickly by the same for the Stanford head coach.

Stanford scored again, up 5 with 3 minutes left. USC scored, so down 4 at 16-12 with 2:41 left.
The USC head coach then got red-carded in the last minute (but the game had already been decided). The game ended without any more scoring.

USC had 13 steals to Stanford's 4. USC had 14 power plays to Stanford's 9.
Stanford was 5 of 9 on power plays. USC was 3 of 14.
USC had 12 goals on 31 attempts (39%). Stanford, 16 of 27 (59%).
Stanford's goalie had 8 saves (of 20 attempts). The team had 3 field blocks.
USC's goalie had 5 saves (of 21 attempts). The team had 2 field blocks.

RE: 2026 MWP - Gary86 - 10-04-2026

(09-20-2026, 12:00 AM)M T Wrote: The 2026 Overnight MPSF Invitational Water Polo tournament is ongoing at Stanford this weekend.
Sunday will be a beautiful day. Come see #3 Stanford take on #1 UCLA at 2PM at Avery pool. ($20; $15 student/senior). There is a women's soccer game at 1, so the parking by the stadium will be full.

Today, I first saw #3 Stanford get a too-tight win over #6 Long Beach State by a score of 17-13. It was the first time I had seen them play this year and I wasn't that impressed in this game. The half time score was 8-4, which was good, but LB State played Stanford even in the 2nd half. When I look at the team stats, Stanford had a clear edge.

As I looked over the roster, I found out Stanford's hole player, Alex Gheorge, is listed at 6'3", 335 pounds! Immense, and impossible to move. That isn't fat. While he may not be the fastest swimmer out there, he does have good speed. His hands seem good. He didn't play overly aggressive either.

In previous years, Stanford was mostly a USA-style fast team that got a lot of goals from their speed. Now, it seems they play a European style based on having a big guy in the hole.

Ryan Ohl (Conn.) and Botond Balogh (Hungary) scored 4 goals, James Rozolis-Hill (Calif.) scored 3. Ben Forer (Calif.) and Dimitris Chatzis (Greece) scored 2 each

I guess I didn't really recognize the skill of Stanford's goalie in that first game. He saved 43.5% of the shots on goal (compared to 22.7% for the opposing goalie).

Stanford's shots were often on the goal. 17 of 30 shots scored. 7 of those 13 non-scoring shots were saves, leaving 6 misses.
LB State had 13 of 38 shots that scored. 10 of those 25 non-scoring shots were saves, leaving 15 misses.

Next up was #8 UCSD vs #12 UCI which turned out to be a good game. Early on, I thought UCSD clearly had the better players, but UCI played well. Down 2 at the half, UCI got the lead in the 3rd, but the 3rd wound up tied. UCSD won 11-9.

The first semi-final today was #1 UCLA vs #4 Cal. UCLA got started early with a spread-out offense. UCLA is a very strong team, up 8-3 at the half. But Cal (which brought 22 players) fought back, only down 7-9 at the end of the third, and got close in the 4th, losing 10-11 as a last second shot skipped over the cage. UCLA's offense also uses a strong hole player.
Shooting %: Cal 41.7% (10/24), UCLA 37.9% (11/29)
Save %: Cal 41.2% (7/17) UCLA 50% (10/20)

The second semi-final was #3 Stanford vs #2 USC.

I found out that I underrated Stanford earlier. Stanford was clearly the better team today. BUT, I must say that I felt USC shot extremely poorly for a #2 team. If their shots hadn't missed so often, it would have been a different game.

Stanford's goalie, Bernardo Herzer (Calif.), did a fantastic job of blocking shots. (A number of blocks ricochetted out into the field and so USC got more chances.)
Botond Balogh scored 3 goals, Alex Gheorge (Romania) and Dimitris Chatzis scored 2 each.

USC scored the first goal, but it was mostly Stanford after that.
Stanford was ahead 6-2 after 2 periods, and ahead 10-5 going into the final period.
USC jabbed Stanford with 2 quick counterattack goals consecutively in the 4th, but Stanford still had a 3-goal cushion. Stanford was able to blunt the counterattacks, and gave up a meaningless goal with 9 seconds left.

Shooting %: Stanford 41.7% (10/24) USC 18.6% (8/43) !!
Save %: Stanford 73.3% (22/30) !! USC 37.5% (6/16).

Great Win against SC today and a great SoCal road trip. Stanford is very talented and very deep without any glaring weakness.

RE: 2026 MWP - BostonCard - 10-04-2026

(10-04-2026, 02:33 PM)Spike Wrote: 38 seconds

Thanks, would seem like a fundamental feature to put on a live scoreboard, but given that there were a grand total of three goals scored in the period, I was thinking it was still pretty early in the period, LOL.

To be fair, I wouldn't exclude user error, but you got to ask yourself what are the most fundamental bits of information you would want to convey on a live scoreboard... it ought to be pretty hard for a user not to be able to glean those almost immediately.

BC

RE: 2026 MWP - M T - 10-04-2026

(10-04-2026, 02:18 PM)BostonCard Wrote: The live scoreboard is amongst the worst interface I've ever seen, though maybe that stems from my unfamiliarity with water polo. It is 16 - 12 in the fourth, but I have no idea how much time is left.

BC

The Live Stats play-by-play interface is terrible at telling when a quarter or game is over.
It seems to only update on events, but end of a quarter doesn't register as an event.
You can be stuck watching for the end of Q1 but Q2 is in progress.

After enough time, I exit back to the scoreboard and switch to Finished games.

Time outs are only 2 minutes or 30 seconds, but play usually starts before the allotted time expires.

RE: 2026 MWP - Spike - 10-04-2026

(10-04-2026, 02:40 PM)BostonCard Wrote:
(10-04-2026, 02:33 PM)Spike Wrote: 38 seconds
Thanks, would seem like a fundamental feature to put on a live scoreboard, but given that there were a grand total of three goals scored in the period, I was thinking it was still pretty early in the period, LOL.

To be fair, I wouldn't exclude user error, but you got to ask yourself what are the most fundamental bits of information you would want to convey on a live scoreboard... it ought to be pretty hard for a user not to be able to glean those almost immediately.

BC

Totally agree
I went to play by play

RE: 2026 MWP - M T - 10-04-2026

(10-04-2026, 02:40 PM)BostonCard Wrote: ... but given that there were a grand total of three goals scored in the period, I was thinking it was still pretty early in the period, LOL.

Water polo is amazingly faced paced, IMO. Games are only 32 minutes (four 8-minute quarters, 3 minutes between quarters, 5 minutes at the half) of playing time and typically about 1 hour wall clock time. The shot clock is 30 seconds. Three two-minute timeouts and one 30-second timeout per team. The clock is stopped for things like the ball out of bounds, after goals, etc. When a foul (ordinary or exclusion) is called, the other team can put the ball into play immediately (no taking it out of bounds or letting the offending team get into position, nor do teams substitute after a foul). Overtime is different than basketball or football; more like soccer.

Typical scores are in the 8 to 15 goal range for the winning team. No multiplying goals by 7 or 3 or 2, so the scores look low.

So shots are taken about as quickly as in basketball, far faster than soccer or football. The game time is 20% less than basketball. Pauses in play are MUCH shorter than in basketball or football. Turnovers are maybe twice as frequent than basketball. In today's game, Stanford hit 59% of its shots (very high) while USC hit 39% (a good percentage), so scoring efficiency is roughly equivalent to basketball.

The hardest thing for most people to understand is the officiating. Heck, I played water polo (a half-century ago) and I can not follow the calls. Away from the goal, you're allowed to touch an opponent if he is touching the ball, but if he drops it, you will be called for an ordinary foul since you're touching him and he no longer has the ball. For an ordinary foul, the offensive player must be left alone for a free pass (outside the 5 meter line, he can take a shot).

This changes close to the goal. When a player in front of the goal doesn't have the ball, there is obvious grabbing and shoving, above and below the water. But if the player gets the ball, then almost any kind of contact results in an ejection. (If a player is ejected 3 times, he's out of the game permanently.)

The offense can't take the ball under the water. So if the defense can push the ball under, then they get possession.

Shots that are blocked by someone in the field and then go out of bounds result in the defense getting the ball. But, if the goalie deflects the ball and it goes out of bounds, the offense gets the ball.

An offensive player can't be closer to the goal than the 2 meter line, unless he has the ball or the ball is closer to the end line. In recent years, they've changed that so there is an area toward each sideline where that doesn't apply. The offense will often keep a player in that area, close to the end line. When he gets the ball, other offensive players (without the ball) can get very close to the goalie

RE: 2026 MWP - BostonCard - 10-04-2026

Thanks, MT; Super Helpful!

BC

RE: 2026 MWP - M T - 10-17-2026

#1 Stanford had a match at #4 Cal today. Stanford was 13-1 and Cal 9-4, but Cal kept ahead of the Card throughout the game.
Score by quarters: 1-3, 3-6, 4-8, 8-12. It would have taken a fantastic 4th quarter to pull even, so the game was pretty well sunk by the start of the fourth. Stanford pulled within 3 but Cal scored again right away. Down 4 at 5-9 with under 2 minutes to go, the game was over. There was a lot of scoring (3 goals each) after that but that doesn't mean much.

I wasn't at the game so I can't tell what caused the disparity. Stanford won all 4 sprints. The total number of major fouls was the same (Stanford had 6 power plays plus 4 penalty shots; Cal had 10 power plays with no penalty shots). Stanford did not score on any of its 6 power plays; Cal scored on two of its 10 power plays. Stanford's goalie stopped 12 of 24 shots while Cal stopped 12 of 20. Stanford was called for 5 offensive fouls while Cal was called for only one. Cal had 4 turnovers to Stanford's zero, but Cal had 5 steals to Stanford's 3.

Stanford does play Cal again, Nov. 13 at Stanford.

RE: 2026 MWP - M T - 10-30-2026

Stanford's Men's Water Polo is currently ranked #2. On Saturday, at 1PM, they will be hosting #4 USC and on Sunday at 1PM, they will be hosting #1 UCLA. I encourage you to come cheer on a Stanford team that has a real shot at winning a national championship this year. Tickets are $15 (students can get in free vs UCLA)

Wins in these two matches will significantly help Stanford to gain the #1 seed. More so than in other sports, being the #1 seed at the National Championships is a big advantage. Traditionally, there are 4 contenders, of which in any one year, one team will be a bit weaker. The #1 seed will typically play the weaker #4 seed, and then the winner of the #2 vs #3 match. Effectively, one game you are favored to win and the second is a tough match that could go either way. But the #2 and #3 seeds have two tough matches instead of one.

Stanford has beaten USC twice (scores 10-8(home), 16-12(away)) and has split with UCLA (10-11(home), 19-15(away)). Stanford stumbled against against Cal (8-12(away)) and nearly stumbled against Long Beach State (18-15 OT (away))

Stanford hosts Cal in two weeks, just before the MPSF tournament a week later.

Saturday's game is during the (away) football game. Sunday's game is at the same time as the women's soccer match so adjust your plans for parking. Each game should be over by about 2:15PM. Currently the forecast is that rain on Saturday will happen after 6PM and be over by 6AM on Sunday. So it should be dry, but be prepared. Temperature for both games will be in the low 60s with wind about 5mph.

RE: 2026 MWP - M T - 10-31-2026

It was a close game, but #2 Stanford prevailed over #4 USC, 17-13. USC last lead was at 2-1 in Q1, but they tied it at 11-11 near the end of Q3. Stanford got a couple of goals quickly in Q4, making it tough for USC to catch up, but they got to 15-13 with 3:11 to go. The game was effectively over when Stanford scored to make it 16-13 with 1:50 to go.

There was a good crowd at the game (with a fair number of USC fans). I think it was the WWP team leading cheers from the sunny side seats. The band was there and loud.

More good news: #3 Cal beat #1 UCLA 14-12 at Cal.
Currently, the records are (rankings before this weekend)
#1 UCLA 17-2, 2-2 (1-1 vs Stanford; loss to Cal)
#2 Stanford 16-2, 3-1 (1-1 vs UCLA; loss to Cal)
#3 Cal 13-4, 2-2
#4 USC 14-4, 1-3

Tomorrow's game (1PM) against UCLA will be pivotal for Stanford. Another win over UCLA may secure a MPSF tourney seeding of #1 even if Stanford were to lose to Cal in 2 weeks. (We would be 2-1 vs UCLA, even if Stanford winds up with similar MPSF records with 2 losses.) But if Stanford loses to UCLA, even if Stanford beats Cal, UCLA would probably get the #1 MPSF seed.

So come cheer the team on.

By the way, in today's game, just after USC was credited with a goal to make it 11-11 in the last minute of the 3rd quarter, the Stanford coach pleaded some issue with the refs. The refs huddled for about 5 minutes and apparently made a decision that did not sit well with the Stanford coach (after being informed, he threw his glasses on the ground, shattering them). No one near me in the stands knew what it was about. I twice saw the coach indicating he had been jumping up and down trying to get the attention of the refs. This had to be some sort of technical error (such as an unwarranted shot clock reset), but I don't know. If anyone hears what it was, I would be interested.

RE: 2026 MWP - Nobadeer - 10-31-2026

According to the posts on waterpoloexchange message board, the official timekeepers apparently reset the clock for USC after a common foul by LSJU and so USC ended up with extra time and overall, a 37-second possession.

"Ridiculous. USC had a 45 second possession basically?

post by H17Polo 7 hours ago

H17Polo

Yes, just went back and rewatched. It was a 37 second possession total due to an inadvertent reset.

Really bad mistake by the table and even worse by the refs to not revert back to the time the mistake was made."

I hope to be at Avery tomorrow for the Ucla game. Worth the price of admission just to see how LSJU defends the Ucla star Ryder Dodd.