Anteaters Fall to No. 3 Stanford, 22-12, at UCI Invitational

Saturday, August 29

Irvine, Calif.

9 A.M

UC Irvine

2-0

Stanford

0-0

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Stanford	6	5	4	7	22
UC Irvine	2	1	3	6	12

Photo by: Jacob Thompson

Anteaters Fall to No. 3 Stanford, 22-12, at UCI Invitational

August 29, 2026 | Men's Water Polo

Box Score

By: Leah Fitzpatrick

IRVINE, Calif. – No. 13 UC Irvine Men's Water Polo fell to No. 3 Stanford, 22-12, Saturday morning in game one of day two at the UCI Invitational.

The Cardinal jumped out to an early lead, outscoring the Anteaters, 6-2, in the opening frame. Stanford continued its offensive pressure in the second, holding UCI to one goal while adding five of its own to take an 11-3 advantage into halftime. UCI found its rhythm in the second half, scoring three goals in the third quarter and six more in the final frame. Stanford, however, answered with four goals in the third and seven in the fourth to secure the 22-12 victory.

BY THE NUMBERS: Johann Thrall led the Anteaters with a hat trick, while Wyley Dale and Brody Luke each added two goals.

Dylan Rosmann, Cole Francisco, Keegan McGann, Ethan Spoon and Gage Verdegaal each found the back of the net once.

Nico Assalian recorded five saves in his third collegiate start, while Nolan Cary made three stops in his first minutes of action this season.

Botond Balogh led Stanford with four goals.

HOW IT HAPPENED: Stanford struck first after Ben Atkinson was whistled for an exclusion, giving the Cardinal a man-up opportunity that they converted at the 6:37 mark. Stanford added three more goals at 5:44, 5:00 and 2:35 to take an early 4-0 lead. Wyley Dale put the Anteaters on the board at 2:13, assisted by Keegan McGann. Stanford answered with a power-play goal at 1:52, but McGann responded with a man-up tally of his own, assisted by Brody Luke, at 1:06. The Cardinal added one more with 43 seconds remaining to take a 6-2 lead into the second quarter.

Stanford opened the second with another power-play goal at 7:38 before a five-meter penalty at 6:05 extended the Cardinal advantage to 8-2. Stanford added another goal at 5:25 to make it 9-2. Dale drew a penalty and converted the ensuing man-up opportunity at 1:50, with an assist from Cole Francisco. Stanford closed the half with two more goals, including a five-meter conversion with 33 seconds remaining, to take an 11-3 lead into halftime.

The Cardinal opened the third quarter with another power-play goal to extend their advantage to 12-3. Dale drew an exclusion at 7:03, setting up Thrall for a man-up goal assisted by Dylan Rosmann. Alex Lopez then drew an exclusion, leading to a power-play goal from Rosmann at 6:42, with Lopez providing the assist. Stanford added another goal at 2:12 before Thrall scored at 1:05, assisted by Samuel Bowman, to cut the deficit to 13-6. The Cardinal added two more power-play goals in the final 44 seconds, including one with just one second remaining, to take a 15-6 advantage into the fourth.

Stanford opened the final frame with a goal at 7:40, but UCI answered when Atkinson drew a penalty and Luke converted the ensuing five-meter attempt at 7:12. The Cardinal quickly responded at the seven-minute mark to make it 17-7. Verdegaal then scored at 6:42, assisted by Jayson Hubbard, before Spoon found the back of the net at 5:59 on a pass from Rosmann to bring UCI within eight, 17-9. Stanford added a power-play goal at 5:12, but Spoon drew a penalty and Luke converted the five-meter attempt at 3:56 to make it 18-10. The Cardinal answered with another man-up goal at 3:27. Francisco scored at 3:08 with an assist from Rosmann, cutting the deficit to 19-11. Stanford added two more goals at 1:53 and 1:05 before Thrall completed his hat trick with 45 seconds remaining, assisted by Luke. Stanford scored the final goal of the contest on the power play with 18 seconds remaining to secure the 22-12 victory.

UP NEXT
The Anteaters will conclude play at the UCI Invitational against Concordia at 2:20 p.m. on Aug. 29.