By Bryan Reos – Spear Reporter | Senior utility player Louis Fehrensen winding up a shot against USC (Photo by Briannah McGee – Spear Photographer)
No. 9 San Jose State men’s water polo (5-7, 0-0 WCC) fell to No. 2 Stanford (9-1, 0-0 MPSF) 16-10 at the Avery Aquatic Center in Stanford, Calif.
The Spartans could no longer keep pace with the Cardinal offense in the second half, being outscored 8-3 to end the game.
The Spartans started the game strong, trading goals with the Cardinal, which led 3-2 after the first quarter. SJSU senior center Giancarlo Marquez and sophomore driver Aidan Johnson scored for the Spartans.
Things continued to pick up in the second quarter with both teams scoring 5 goals to bring the halftime score to 8-7. Marquez scored once, while sophomore utility Sam Keightley and junior utility Samu Biros each scored twice.
The Spartans were down by one goal at halftime despite Stanford being ranked No. 2 in the nation.
SJSU’s second-half goals came from Biros in the third quarter and senior 2-meter line Péter Kolos Kohári and Keightley in the fourth quarter.
Keightley and Biros led the team in scoring with 3 goals each, while senior goalkeeper Alexey Poletaev made 7 saves.
“I see a lot of improvement in certain areas, so I think the game was good in that sense,” SJSU head coach Gabor Sarusi said.
The Spartans will have their home opener against West Valley College at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Student Recreation and Aquatic Center to kick off the Lee Walton Tournament.
