NCAA WATER POLO CHAMPIONSHIPS : Warde Leads Irvine’s Upset of Stanford

Senior Tom Warde scored five goals to lead UC Irvine’s water polo team to an 8-7 victory over No. 3 ranked Stanford Saturday to advance to the championship game of the NCAA tournament in Indianapolis.

The Anteaters (26-6) will play top-ranked California tonight for the title. The Bears defeated Pepperdine, 10-9, in their semifinal game,

Irvine took a 2-0 lead, on goals by sophomore Skylar Putman and freshman Pablo Yrizar. After a Stanford score, Warde scored his first goal of the game late in the first quarter, making the score 3-1.

Warde scored two more goals, including a penalty shot past Stanford goalie Todd Kemp, to give Irvine a 5-3 halftime lead.

In the second half, it was more Warde, who is the leading scorer in the tournament with 10 goals, when he scored his fourth consecutive goal of the game for Irvine late in the third quarter, to give the Anteaters a 6-3 lead.

In the fourth quarter, Irvine had to survive a late Stanford rally, which saw the Cardinal tie the score, 6-6 with 4:05 remaining. Warde responded with his fifth goal of the game off of an assist from sophomore Putman, to put Irvine ahead, 7-6.

After John Redd added an insurance goal for Irvine with just 2:40 left in the game, Stanford’s Jeff Oeding scored his third goal.