PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The No. 4 Stanford men's water polo team (5-0) completed a sweep of its five matches in the Bruno Classic, capping the weekend with three victories on Sunday at Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center on the campus of Brown University in Providence, R.I.
Stanford scored at least 19 goals in each of its five matches on the weekend, highlighted by 30 against MIT on Saturday.
Senior Bret Bonanni, a Science, Technology & Society major, totaled 27 goals in the weekend's five matches and is now just 39 away from equaling Tony Azevedo's (2001-04) school record of 332 career goals.
The Cardinal opened Sunday with a 19-3 win over No. 17 St. Francis College Brooklyn, before defeating No. 19 Bucknell, 20-4. Stanford closed the day and the weekend tournament with a 19-6 victory over host No. 11 Brown Sunday afternoon.
Led by four goals from Bonanni and three scores from redshirt sophomore Justin Roberto, the Cardinal opened the day with win over St. Francis College Brooklyn. Stanford scored the first five goals of the match and took a 10-1 lead into halftime.
The Terriers scored the first goal of the second half, before the Cardinal responded with a 9-0 run over the next 13:45 to extend its lead to 19-2. St. Francis College Brooklyn added a score in the final two minutes to make it 19-3.
Along with Bonanni's four goals and Roberto's three scores, BJ Churnside (2), Reid Chase (2), Connor Stapleton (2), Mitchell Mendoza (1), Marco Stanchi (1), Adam Abdulhamid (1), Blake Parrish (1), Cody Smith (1) and Harrison Enright (1) added scores for the Cardinal against the Terriers.
In the second match of the day, Bonanni and Abdulhamid recorded four goals apiece to lead the Cardinal to the win over Bucknell.
The Bison opened the scoring with a goal four minutes into the contest, but Stanford responded with nine-straight scores while holding the Bison without a goal for the rest of the half en route to the 9-1 lead at the break. Stanford added six scores in the third quarter, including three by Bonanni alone, and five more in the fourth period to win, 20-4.
Enright (3), Kyke Weikert (2), Griffin Bolan (2), Mendoza (1), Chase (1), Parrish (1), Smith (1) and Churnside (1) each added to the Cardinal's total in the win over Bucknell.
A 19-6 win over host Brown rounded out the weekend. As he did in the day's first two matches, Bonanni guided the Cardinal offensively with six goals in the win over the Bears.
Stanford used two goals by Smith and one each from Bonanni, Chase and Enright in the opening quarter to take a 5-1 lead over Brown after one period. The Cardinal built a 10-4 advantage by halftime, and out-scored the Bears, 9-2, in the second half to post the 19-6 win.
Bonanni scored four of his six goals against Brown in the second half. After a Brown goal at the 6:44 mark of the third quarter, the Cardinal scored the match's next eight goals and held the Bears scoreless for the next 12:56 of the second half.
Smith (2), Mendoza (2), Stanchi (2), Chase (2), Enright (1), Abdulhamid (1), Parrish (1), Stapleton (1), and Jackson Kimbell (1) each added goals for Stanford in the win over Brown.
Stanford will host the Kap7 NorCal Invitational Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 19-20, in its home opener at the Avery Aquatic Center.
