Stanford’s Talent Pool : It’s Starts With Newport’s Imbernino, but Doesn’t End There

With 13 seconds left in last year’s NCAA water polo championship game and his Stanford team trailing UC Irvine by one goal, Coach Dante Dettamanti stood by the pool at Long Beach’s Belmont Plaza with that shallow feeling that brings heartache.

He could only watch as the Irvine supporters started their championship celebration.

The season ticked away as Stanford’s David Imbernino and Jaime Velez swam toward the ball at mid-pool. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five . . .

But a UC Irvine foul stopped the clock, allowing Stanford a final scoring opportunity. From the left side of the pool, reserve Matt Tingler threw a lob that tied the match.

The goal gave Dettamanti and Stanford new life, and later, with 47 seconds left in the second overtime period, Tingler scored again to give Stanford its fifth national title in 10 years.

“It took a lot of guts to take that lob shot,” Dettamanti said of the game-tying goal. “I’ll remember that goal for the rest of my life. Not bad for a substitute.”

This season, Stanford may not have to rely on the kind of drama supplied by Tingler, a junior from Newport Harbor High School, when the Cardinal returns to Long Beach for the eight-team single-elimination NCAA tournament. The Cardinal opens against Air Force at 3 p.m. today.

This season, No.-1 ranked Stanford has a solid roster to make it one of the strongest teams in collegiate history.

Stanford is 33-0 and on a 42-game winning streak spanning two seasons. UCLA, the nation’s second-ranked team, has lost to the Cardinal three times. Third-ranked California is 0-5 against Stanford.

Tingler has played a larger role in the Cardinal’s success with 33 goals. But it has been senior David Imbernino, a former standout at Corona del Mar High School, who has had a major hand in Stanford’s record.

Imbernino, a three-time All-American and a member of the U.S. National team, was the team’s leading scorer his first two seasons. Imbernino, who was second in goals last season, was the NCAA’s co-most valuable player with Irvine’s Jeff Campbell.

“He’s always been the driving force behind the team in terms of leadership, attitude and playing ability,” said Grant Stanley, who played against Imbernino at Newport Harbor.

Said Dettamanti: “Imbo’s been our top player for the last four years. We’re not depending on him as much. What’s happening is that the other players are scoring more because they’re double-teaming him.”

Imbernino’s defenders, at times, have gone to extremes to stop him.

“People will try to get him angry--they try to play rough with him,” Dettamanti said. “He reacts in a positive way to that. When he gets mad, he plays better.”

Dettamanti believes this season’s squad is as compatible as any he has coached in 10 years at Stanford.

The six players who entered Stanford as freshman in 1983 have been bonded by failure as well as success. Imbernino, Stanley, Chris Thompson, Craig Klass, Greg Gamble and Greg Ocasek were part of the team that produced Stanford’s only losing season in the past 12 years.

They also have won a national championship, finished second nationally and won three straight Pacific 10 titles.

That success has prompted comparisons to the Stanford team that won 39 straight and 64 of 67 matches from 1980-1982. In 1981 and ‘82, Stanford won back-to-back NCAA championships and four players became members of the 1984 silver medal-winning Olympic team.

“The 1981 team is the best team to ever play collegiate water polo,” Dettamanti said.

One difference this season is Stanford is without stars, relying instead on depth.

“Imbernino was the main man, he basically did everything,” said Jeff Oeding, a teammate since high school. “Now we have so many guns on the team. We don’t always go to him to score.”

With the added talent, the expectations of a second straight national title are high.

“I feel a lot of pressure to live up to everyone’s expectations,” Oeding said. “They expect us to go undefeated.”

Said Imbernino: “I’ve never been on a team when you spend so much time and hard work. There’s a great bond. We try not to dwell on the thought of losing. We don’t want to go into the games trying not to lose.”

It’s doubtful, however, that Stanford’s winning streak will end this weekend.

“We’ve been through some different times,” Stanley said. “Everybody knows we only have three more games. We can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.”