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Brett Ormsby and UCLA drowned Stanford and Tony Azevedo 7-4 on Saturday.

UCLA didn’t only beat Stanford.

It dominated the Cardinal.

The No. 1 Bruins clearly established they were the better team in the pool on Saturday when they beat No. 2 Stanford 7-4 at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in a match that was often times more lopsided than the score seemed.

“I wasn’t really expecting that,” said UCLA coach Adam Krikorian after the match. “I’m a little surprised.”

The win had even more significance not only because it was against the No. 2 team in the country, but because it came against UCLA’s biggest rival.

Prior to this season, Stanford (14-3, 3-1 MPSF) had beaten UCLA (17-2, 5-0) in six of its past seven meetings. With Saturday’s win, UCLA now holds the season series lead, 2-1, with no regular season matches left between the two teams.

“Stanford’s been our nemesis forever,” senior goalie Joe Axelrad said.

“We started to believe in the past couple of weeks that we were just as good, if not better than they are.”

The Bruins’ defense looked as good as it has all season, holding the powerful Stanford offense to only two natural goals. The two other goals came on four-meter penalty shots in the fourth quarter.

Stanford attacker Tony Azevedo, an Olympian and largely regarded as the best collegiate water polo player in the country, was responsible for all four of the Cardinal’s goals recorded. In comparison, UCLA had a much more balanced attack, with seven Bruins scoring one goal a piece en route to sealing the victory.

Azevedo was matched up offensively with Bruin and fellow Olympian Brett Ormsby throughout the game, and the battle between the two was intense at times. But it was only friendly competition between the two, and nothing personal.

“We’re always positive with each other,” Azevedo said. “In the game it’s as hard as you can. And out of the game we’re friends.

“It’s refreshing playing against a great player and it makes a game a lot better when I know I get to go out and play someone worthwhile like Brett.”

While Azevedo was trying his best to single-handedly defeat the Bruins, Axelrad did his best in denying the Stanford attacker. Axelrad finished with a career-high 14 saves, shutting down a Cardinal offense whose previous low of goals scored this year was eight.

While limiting Azevedo’s touches, the Bruins held the rest of the Cardinal offense in check.

“I can’t give my teammates enough credit.” Axelrad said. “They played fantastic defense and funneled the ball right back to me.”

In what started as a defensive battle for both teams, UCLA jumped out to a 2-1 edge at halftime with goals by senior attackers Ormsby and Albert Garcia.

But the Bruin offense came alive early in the third quarter. In a three-minute span, UCLA scored four goals – all of them set up by the defense and its counterattack.

“I think we played awesome. We executed every part of the game,” Ormsby said. “This is a huge boost to our confidence.”

A rare goal by senior attacker Peter Belden, who had only scored eight times all year before that, started the Bruin scoring run. On the ensuing Stanford possession, a steal resulted in a breakaway goal by Josh Hewko.

A little over a minute later, Belden took the ball away from Stanford and made a long pass to Matt Jacobs, who scored a goal with Stanford goalie Chad Taylor helplessly stranded. On the next Stanford possession, it was Jacobs’ turn to make an interception, which led to a Bruin goal by Grant Zider on the next possession.

After the flurry of Bruin goals, UCLA had its biggest lead 6-1. Azevedo scored two consecutive goals, but senior center Ted Peck countered and put the game out of reach with a turnaround backhand shot with 1:28 left in the fourth period, giving UCLA a 7-3 lead.

With the convincing win over Stanford on top of an 11-6 win against Long Beach State on Sunday, UCLA extended its winning streak to 13 games and remains undefeated in conference play with only three regular season matches remaining.

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